There's usually little rhyme or reason to the way I work, it's mostly instinctive, but I knew I wanted to reserve some light this time. Once I'd sketched the flowers and main foliage I masked a few spots on the leaves and flowers, then spattered masking fluid randomly. Once that was dry I wet the whole of the paper thoroughly, leaving the waterto sink in before washing in azo yellow on the flowers and foliage, and ultramarine just at the top. This was only a pale underwash to act as a base. Now I've started adding more colour, being careful not to treat any shapes like a paint by numbers and encouraging bleeds and blending. This is where I'm up to now:
A confession.......... I can't really remember what I've done I am trying to keep things interesting with varied textures, colours and edges, whether it's working I don't know. I also find I get carried away painting and forget to take regular photos, sorry. Second image, trying to get some depth and variety in the foliage.
	Continuing the foliage and also painting the pale lily.
So, this was a continuation of the background, lots of water to start, then juicy colour dropped in and encouraged to mingle. As it dried I added a little more detail in the leaves either by adding stronger colour or by lifting colour out using a stiff, barely damp brush. You can see I removed the masking from the bottom half of the painting and softened the spots by gently washing over the leaves with clean water.
	The large pink flower has been worked on, with soft pink glazed over the yellow in places.
The finished painting, with shadows added and masking removed.