First, I sketch out the painting. Masking out areas allows me to work without worrying about reserving areas.

Faces need to be drawn carefully, both the contours and the shadows.

Winsor & Newton removable masking fluid.

I paint a wash around the daffodils in aureolin. I bleed in some quinacridone red & gold and ultramarine blue in the background.

I add some deep darks in the foreground in ultramarine blue, pthalo blue & quinacridone gold.

I paint the shadowed areas of the faces in aureolin and pthalo green. Then I let some quinacridone gold and red bleed into the pale green shadows.

I leave plenty of white on the faces.

I let this dry completely.

I remove the masking first, leaving the girl's hands masked out since they are so much in the foreground.

I darken the background.

I add some blues & greens to the daffodil field.They will emphasize the bright yellow.

I begin on the hair, careful to blend it with the faces at the shadow areas.

I still leave plenty of highlights with white paper.

I let this dry completely.

I add some more shadows to the faces and hair.

I begin to model the features. This has to be done with only a few layers in watercolor unlike oil, otherwise it begins to look dirty.

I lightly shape the mother's hand. I don't want each finger painted seperately - I want the hand to be a coherent shape.

I leave white paper highlights.

I let this dry completely.

Aureolin
Cobalt Blue
Ultramarine Blue
Pthalo Blue
Quinacridone Red
Quinacridone Gold
Bright Red
Burnt Sienna
Pthalo Green

I soften the backlit highlights around the hair and clothing with a soft cloth.

I darken a few points around the eyes and mouths. I want the eyes to be the most contrast in the painting.

I let this dry completely.

I've removed the masking & lightly sketched in the girl's hands. Children's hands shouldn't have too much detail. A few shadows were added to the mother's hands as well.

A few more face shadows. Some work on the daffodils - and it's finished!

Final Painting!