Study of different orchids - watercolor

I did a small study of three orchid flowers.I like the small one in the left corner the most. In real life I like vandas (the big purple one) really much, but they are not so great to paint. The pattern! It almost drove me crazy.You use only one color, but have to follow the pattern of the flower to make it really look like a vanda. 

I had some problems with the pink. Somehow I'm almost never happy with the way the pink turns out when the paper is dry. Maybe I have to buy more pink paint from different brands.

Watercolor roses

Roses... Oh dear..

What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet

 In 2010 and 2011 I visited the little town Lottum (in the Netherlands, near the German boarder). In the area of Lottum many rose farmers have their farms. You can walk through the rose fields and see (and smell) many different kinds of roses. Great whites, but also purple almost blue, sweet pink ones.

These roses offer great inspiration for paintings. Roses look beautiful but are definitely not easy to paint. All those petals! Sometimes I just don't know where to start.

Here you see the watercolor roses I painted. The one above is a small one and was really fun to paint. The painting with the two pink roses was painted in Sweden, when I was enjoying my summer holidays. And the one below, is a bit less realistic and looks more abstract.

That's enough roses for now. I think I will paint more orchids and other flowers in 2013.

Pink orchids

I started this painting on a new block of paper. The paper was smoother than expected and did not paint the way I liked it. I used acrylic for this painting.  Below you can see the finished painting. I think I will make this painting again on different paper. I really like the pink in combination with the greens.