No. 18, 30 Day Challenge, Dead Rose on vellum

After the rushed rosebuds yesterday, I wanted to spend a bit more time on today's painting so allowed about half a day. I have some natural vellum and wanted to try it out, it's a lovely honey colour,  shame this photograph doesn't really show the colour but you can see the veins in the skin.  Vellum paintings take a long time normally so I decided to paint using a very limited palette using some of the earth colours in my palette, almost like an under-painting.... not just because time was limited but also because it suited the subject for today's painting.
The subject is a dead rose that I've had since my birthday last year. It was originally white and formed part of a beautiful bouquet....a very special birthday gift! It always seems a shame that cut flowers fade so soon, so I kept a few and they live on the kitchen windowsill now.....as a keepsake and are just as appealing to the eye even in this decayed state.

Detail of  dead rose showing the venation pattern, the viens in the rose suit the vellum well!

Colours: Raw Umber, Burnt Sienna, Gold Ochre and a tiny amount of Sepia. I also used a very light wash of Cerulean in areas on the left side ( light side)  of the flower, to lift it.
I applied a very light wash of raw umber and burnt sienna, with some gold ochere on the left side.  first, then modelled the suface using the appropriate dry brush technique. I added the veins using a needlepoint brush which was from the The Brushman, David Jackson. Thank you David! wonderful brush.