I wanted to do something with very little drawing for this piece and I wanted to let the paint do most of the work. I wet areas, dropped the paint in, and let it define the details in the petals. A very simple piece but I wanted to add a little whimsy in the background so I put in some strong green swirls. I wanted to draw them back into the piece since they were too dominant so I went scrambling to find a spray bottle to mist them with. The only one I could find in my brief watercolor window before the paint dried was filled with vermouth so I misted the background with vermouth which helped create some interesting textures and details as well as providing a title all in one fell swoop. The original is 10.25″×14″ in size and is painted entirely with Rublev 18th century reproduction watercolor paint on Sennelier 140# cold-pressed paper.

Featured in Works on Paper group April 2011