This is a piece that, again, I have been working on for a while. I was lucky enough to be invited on a wonderful holiday with one of my friends to Tresco, and island in the Isles of Scilly. A beautiful place, and in peak summer Agapanthus are in full bloom.
I decided that these would make a challenging, but wonderful subject. I started with a pencil drawing from life, and then made of copy with tracing paper using a fine ink pen. I like having an ink drawing, as well as the origninal drawing, on tracing paper as not only can I use the drawings again, but I can also superimpose them onto my work as I paint to ‘check’ that everything is going right! The photo is a crop of the entire composition, which includes the long stem, and I potentially may add in some leaves.
Below are two photos of the work in progress. I started with the stems, as I wanted to make sure that they were perfect before I moved onto the flowers and buds.
I hope you like it! I will upload more photos as I go.
Petals and Paints 
Lovely, Helen. Can’t wait to see the completed painting.
Thank you!
Well done, difficult flower to draw. I like your technique.
Thank you very much!
Wow! You do beautiful work, Helen!
Looks like a promising start. I admire your patience and attention to detail.
Rich work! Also, Thanks for stopping by my blog. All the best to you on your endeavors.
Beautiful work my dear xo
Water color is a difficult medium, but you seem to own the technique. Can’t wait to see the final work.
Wonderful already. Can’t wait for the whole flower “to bloom”.
love following along =)
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Fascinating to see your process, and the beautiful resutls thus far!
Beautiful! What size are your paintings?
Your work is really beautiful. Very sweet. It is a little added touch to the world of botanicals.
Wow! You have a lot of patience. Thank you for visiting my site!
Thanks for your like on my blog – thought I’d come and have a look at yours. This is especially gorgeous (I’m in awe of anybody who has the patience and precision for botanical illustrations!), not least because I’m really familiar with the Isles of Scilly. There are various bits of my Scilly drawing on my blog too if you’re interested.
Stunning piece so far, I wish you good light to paint in.
Best wishes
Billie
Simply beautiful! Can’t wait to see more!
Reblogged this on Heather Payne Journal.
Beautiful watercolour. Thank you stopping by my blog!
You’re welcome, thank you very much!
It looks to be going well. I hadn’t thought to do the stems first, but I understand your thinking behind it. I look forward to see how the picture develops.