Step 1:

Draw out the major shapes of the flowers and stems with a pencil on the watercolor paper.

Step 2:

This step involves several painting techniques:

* Wet-in-Wet painting. The background colors are painted in by alternately applying the blue, green and mauve colors, allowing them to run into each other and mix right on the paper. The consistency of the paint for this process is fairly juicy.

* Negative painting ... painting around a subject to define its shape, in this case, the flowers.

* Lifting paint.  For some of the flower stems, lift the background color paint off the paper with the moist flat edge of a 1/2" brush.  Other stems can be painted directly onto the white paper after the surrounding background area is dry. This provides variety in the greenery and suggests that some of the stems are further away.

Step 3:

The centers of the flowers are also applied with a wet-in-wet technique, using the orange color closer to the top and blending the mauve, blue and green into the lower part.

Step 4:

Paint shadows on the white petals with a very thin mixture of the blue.  The flower in the lower right hand corner is given a thin glaze of mauve.

Step 5:

A few details are added in the final step, but to keep a loose watercolor feel to this painting, avoid overworking the piece.

To brighten the flower centers where the sun hits them, apply an opaque yellow paint. Darken the petals on the pink flower to indicate that it is in the shade, leaving just a few light areas to indicate the path of the sunlight.

Leaves and stems are defined with a few strokes of blue and green.

Any distracting elements along the edges are softened with light glazes of blue, green and mauve.