Bougainvillea...Again

Bougainvillea Revisited
Watercolor
5.5" x 7.5", Arches 100% cotton, cold press paper

Today I rolled into another version of the bougainvillea with the idea of giving the flowers more real estate than in yesterday's painting. 

This time I wasn't trying to avoid using ink, so that's a testimony to facing what you're avoiding in your next painting, as per artist Lyn Boyers' advice.

The pressing issue today was time. I knew this painting would take more time than yesterday's. I needed to draw it a little more carefully (I used a watercolor pencil so the lines would dissolve with water). I needed to make sure the perspective was right. Then I needed to apply layers of color, giving more time especially for the brighter colors to dry before adding other colors. All told, it was about a seven-hour process with several (welcome) interruptions. That's seven hours during which other work did not get done. 

I'm not sure this painting is finished. I'm not sure it is an improvement over yesterday's. But I am sure it was time well spent, because now I'm even less afraid of approaching a challenging composition without ink. I'm also feeling more confident about working with larger paintings.

Now I need to work on giving myself permission to spend more time on this learning curve. Until recently I've mostly been painting in the cracks -- between work and social commitments. Deeper learning is going to take more time.