Starting Over: Raspberries Watercolor Painting

Here's the first shot of the second draft of my Raspberries watercolor painting. I decided that I would feel a little more comfortable working on a half sheet of paper (15" x 22") for this, rather than the full sheet I used for my first attempt. I used a lot of Arylide Yellow mixed with Hooker's Green Deep for the lightest yellow-green leaves - they need to just glow with light. And I mixed together 3 different blues, two greens, and a gray for my shadows. I wanted to use mostly Ultramarine Blue for my main blue shade, despite the fact that I actually prefer Cobalt Blue, because Ultramarine is a granulating color, which means it dries with little flecks of pigment instead of a smooth wash, and I liked the idea of using that quality of the paint to add texture to this painting. Even if no one can tell but me!

After these washes are dry (you probably can't tell, but this photo was taken when there were still puddles of pigment on the paper), I will work on defining the major shapes in the painting. I'm going to work around the berries until I feel I have a good handle on the background.