Using White and Yellow Chartreuse/Chartreuse (you could use canary yellow as well), I started shaping the sprouts. I then used grass green and green to add the darks and a little red to neutralize the green in a few areas. I used Cream, White, Burnt Ochre, and a little Grass or Dark Green to shade the base of the sprouts (in pace of Burnt Ochre you could use Sienna Brown, or a mixed brown with warm red+warm yellow+a little green blue). I will continue with these colors to finish the sprouts. Pay attention to the shadows and the subtle gradations in the shadows in the reference photo.
I worked on the onion using Burnt Ochre, Pale Vermillion/Cad. Orange, Scarlet Lake, Spanish Orange, Indigo Blue (or another dark such as Black Grape or Dark Brown or Dark green), White, and cool gray 50% in some of the subtle shadows. The first step was to shade the bulk of the onion with Burnt Ochre. Pay attention to the subtle values as you work. I then added orange, yellow, and red at various times while working. I used the dark, in my case Indigo Blue, to add the dark areas and shadows. I used the white to correct areas such as overpainted areas, add highlights that were missed, and to add lighter areas.
On the wood base the onion is sitting upon, I worked on the right side and on the cast shadow. I used cool gray 50%, cool gray 90%, and white. Choose colors, a dark, medium, and light or just a dark and light, that work with the color palette in your piece. I worked on the upper right edge of the wood adding darks and lights in a textured way to start shaping the wood base. I will do the same on the left side. I used white to lighten the edge of the cast shadow and to bring light into the sides of the shadow (study the shadow in the photo). I also added a few dark lines of the wood into the shadow. I started to add some color from the onion into the cast shadow as well. On the bottom of the wood I added lights and darks and made the bottom overall lighter than in the photo. The reason is that I did not want a large all dark shape at the bottom of my piece. It will be dark, just not black.
I am using cool gray 50% and cool gray 90% to add medium and dark values to the background in areas that I need to shape and add contrast to make them pop I could also use white or 10% or 20% cool gray if i need light areas. I will continue to ass these colors all over the background. I may decide later to add color, possibly in a light glaze of colored pencil, not sure yet. But I wanted you to know that is an option.
I worked on a few petals and the top 4 leaves this morning. I did the top 4 leaves because several of you were having issues with those leaves. Study the highlights and shadows on those leaves for guidance. Three leaves on this only have the underpainting of watercolor, I need to work on those and the rest of the petals. My background also needs some work, a few areas need to be subdued. I could do this with more watercolor on the background or with colored pencil. I will most likely do it with colored pencil.
I wanted to note something about the placement of the flower - I made sure that the top leaf went off the page. The reason for this is to keep it from floating which the leaf going off the page does, barely. I could also crop more and have one or more of the leaves go off the page. I did not want to add a stem, I like it without the stem. But I could have added one to keep it from floating. Or, I could let it float a little...
