Here are some more steps of my Rose painting in oil.

The size is 20"x20".

In the shadows I am using all colours on my palette: Sap Green, Cadmium Yellow, alizarin crimson, burnt sienna, Cerulean blue, phthalo green, phthalo blue. I add Naples Yellow to the titanium white to have not such a harsh white - I want to have the rose not be too cool. I am curious by myself how this painting will look when it is finished.

Today I have started with a new Rose painting.

Yes, I know, the figurative painting isn't finished yet, but I couldn't resist. 

I have done some Step-by-Step-Photos, so you can easily follow this work in progress. At first you will see the Drawing and then you are getting an idea about how I build up my layers.

My colours in this painting are: Indian Yellow, Aureolin yellow, Alizarin Crimson, Translucent Orange, Permanent Rose, Phthalo Blue and Phthalo Green.

It is wonderful to see the Rose developing and I know the look will completely change when I start with the background. I will go with a dark background, which would make the Rose pop.

The painting has the size 12x16 inch on stretched watercolor canvas.

In my previous post I was asked by Krista, whether I am stretching the paper by myself or whether I am buying it pre-stretched. Here in Germany pre-stretched watercolor canvas are not available. So I was happy when Joyce Faulknor taught on her blog how she stretches her paper. I tried it and it is so easy to do. I have tried it with hotpressed and also coldpressed paper. It works perfect. You should try it.

Click on the images to enlarge them.

Some days ago I got a message from a beginning artist from Canada. He told me that he is learning watercolor and oil painting and wants to develop his skills to paint as an artist for his career. He was asking me if I could give him some advice.

The only advice I can give him is to paint, paint and paint.

There is no fast way to learn, but you will see: the artistic journey is wonderful.

Of course visiting classes is also a good help. But when this is not possible there is the wonderful Internet. There are so many wonderful forums like Wetcanvas.com or ArtandArtistry.com which are helpful for each artist, where you can show your work and where you will get often good help to your work, advice for art business, Infos about colours, mediums, techniques and so much more.  Books about painting are also very helpful. It is great to have a good library. On Amazon.com you will find many books about painting. Studying other artists work is also helpful.  Look at the old masters or other artists which work you admire. So many artists today are writing blogs and share their knowledge for free, show Demos, do Videos on Youtube, but you always have to paint, paint, paint.

Regarding blogs from artists: Just today I visited the blog of Carolyn (Carolyns Paint Blog) and found this wonderful thread where she told about her experience to paint a landscape together with Ron Guthrie. I very much enjoyed reading this thread and that she shared how they worked on a Landscape. Although I am no landscape painter but I always like to learn something new, which will always be helpful for my own work.

Ah ... my own work. I have here the next step of my figurative painting.

I have started with the tree. For the tree trunk I used the colours: Raw Sienna, Alizarin Crimson, Winsor Blue (green shade), Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber and Sap Green.

You see there is only slow progress, but I am also working on a beautiful Rose painting on my Rosesblog.