Finished the Trillium grandiflorum this morning, second attempt

The first one was ruined in the third week, and I have only myself to blame. I had rushed the sepals because I was pleased with how the leaves had gone, and a rushed sepal in a white flower is fatal. There is nowhere to hide. I peeled the paper off the board, put it in the drawer with the other failures, and started again the following Monday.

Eight weeks on the second sheet. This morning I lifted the last wash on the third petal and sat back, and for the first time in the whole eight weeks I could not find the thing that was wrong. That moment almost never arrives. I did not celebrate. I washed the brush, covered the board, and went to make tea, and it was only in the kitchen that my hands started shaking a little.

Sixteen weeks for one plant, and it will be a long time before I can look at it properly enough to price it. But it is on the board, and it is right, and nobody will ever know the first one existed.

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Ramesh Jha·4w

Eight weeks on one sheet, and the discipline to begin again from Monday instead of giving up, that is the real thing here ji. In our Mithila work also we say the line will show where the mind was hurried. A white flower with no shading to hide in, that is hardest of all, one wrong wash and the whole petal is spoiled, so I can understand what you have done. That moment when you sit back and cannot find the fault, it comes rarely. Keep that second sheet safely, and my respect to your patience. 🙏

Margaret HsuOP·4w

"The line will show where the mind was hurried." That is exactly it, and I intend to remember the phrasing. In watercolour the same thing happens with a wash: the brush travels at the speed of your attention, and if your attention has already moved on to the next leaf, the edge will tell everyone.

Mithila lines are unforgiving in a way mine aren't, I think. I can lift a wash, or at least pretend I meant it. A line is simply there. I have a great deal of respect for anyone working without that escape route.

The second sheet is in the flat file, away from light. Thank you for the kind words.

Roman Petrak·4w

The rushed sepal part is the whole thing. I cut stone, but it's the same rule: the part you do while you're still pleased with the last part is the part that fails. Eight weeks on a botanical sheet is a real number, not a humble-brag. Most people never learn to throw the first one in the drawer and start the same week. What's the paper, if you don't mind my asking. Heavy stock or board, and do you stretch it first.

Margaret HsuOP·4w

Hot pressed Fabriano Artistico, 300 gsm, and yes, stretched. I wet the sheet, lay it on a board and tape the edges with gummed tape, then let it dry overnight before anything touches it. Starting on a buckled sheet is a slow way to ruin good work, and I have done it once and do not intend to again.

Stone must be even less forgiving than white petals. A chipped edge on a carved line cannot be quietly worked back in the way a wash can. Do you cut the same way, drawing first and then cutting, or working straight to the edge?