"Cone Flowers" Albert Handell Workshop Day 5

On our last day we spent the entire day at a private home and gardens.  This was my morning painting.  We had the option to do a paint-along, but Albert was in the gazebo and there wasn't room for any more in there, and with SO many beautiful flowers and scenes to choose from, we all dispersed.

This painting of cone flowers and it's neighboring flowers was done with watercolor first, then the pastel over it.  Albert showed me a little technique up in the right-hand side under the white flowers.  He drew little curved lines under the white flowers with vine charcoal to subtly give texture like leaves in shadow and also add to the rhythm.  His theme for teaching us to paint nature scenes was to capture and portray "rhythm".  I think this was an important lesson I learned, and now I try to think of music while sketching the scene and how it might relate to the rhythm of the plants.