I've had the privilege to paint a lot of wedding bouquets as anniversary presents recently, and I love it! I always find it really interesting to see an artist's process, so here's a step-by-step process of one of my bouquet paintings.

My clients send me the pictures they want me to work from, and I always ask to see if there's anything special they want to make sure I include. This particular client wanted to be sure there was plenty of detail on the little pendant under the bow.

After I get the sketch approved, I'll lightly erase the pencil lines so they're very faint, and then put in my first washes of color. The roses had a warm yellow light coming from the left, so I used more orange and yellow on the left, and let the right side be a cooler crimson.

Next comes the first pass at shading and colors! I'm searching out the shapes of the petals at this point, paying attention to values but not punching in my darks quite yet.

Here you can see I've added detail to the pendant and started those deep, dark shadows on the right side of the bouquet.

The finished bouquet! I love using watercolors to bring an almost three-dimensional look to my flowers. You can see more of my bouquets on Instagram, or order one of your own on Etsy!