Asters revisited

Asters (revisited)
original watercolour by Teresa Newham

Following the successful revamp of my Hyacinths painting, I turned my attention to Asters.  This is a favourite of mine, made as a demo at Open Studios a few years back, and I didn't want to alter it drastically; I wondered if simply remounting it would do:

trying the original version in a new mount
© Teresa Newham

I came to the conclusion that something more was needed.  The background looked distinctly wishy-washy and there was too much yellow; so I removed as much of the original colour as I could and strengthened the background with Permanent Sap Green and Permanent Alizarin.

playing with the background
© Teresa Newham

This worked well; I re-did the flowers with Permanent Alizarin, and they started to sing against the green.  The leaves and stems were going to need similar treatment.

bringing out the flowers
© Teresa Newham

The end result in the new mount looks subtly different to the original - so subtle that I sometimes have trouble telling photos of the two apart.  Which means I haven't ruined one of my favourite paintings!

the revamped painting
© Teresa Newham