Feeling Pink - Work in Progress

I made this a separate blogpost, just because I want to celebrate this progress in my painting journey!
This is the first time I have painted without critically sketching with pencil on the canvas. It feels like I have been able to express myself freely, fully and easily!
So here I am posting how I progressed through the different stages in painting this beautiful waterlily:
Final Painting:

Below is Stage 1. Stage 1 is just the first impression and marking the light and dark shapes in the flower.



 Stage 2: In Stage 2, I actually put in the shapes of the petals, specially the inside petals. I forgot to take a picture just when I stopped painting Stage 2. So below is the result of progressing a bit more into Stage 3 - specially the center part of the flower.

Stage 3: Don't have a picture of Stage 3 either. But stage 3 is about creating more variations in each of petal shapes and the background.

Stage 4: This is the completed painting with final touches and highlights.

The inspirational photograph is below. Thanks to Wetcanvas community for posting these wonderful pictures and hosting monthly challenges.

Feeling Pink

I am feeling pink today and this Waterlily is perfectly what I want to see!

click on the image to view larger

Feeling Pink - 11x14 inches, Oil on canvas panel

Here's something interesting - Popular phrases that include pink:

Tickled pink: to be happy

In the pink: in good health -- this phrase hasn't always had this meaning. See what it originally meant

Pinking shears: scissors with serrated blades

A pink elephant: term to describe hallucinations during intoxication

Pinkie finger: the smallest finger on the human hand

Pink slip: notice that employment is ending

Pink collar: refers to a particular class of jobs once only filled by women