All that's left are the leaves~

With the work on the flower completed I am anxious to finish this drawing. But one thing I don't want to do is hurry when I work on the leaves. It's so easy to rush with all that green! 

I love the way complimentary colors work together. Using a purple-y red, in this case, FC Red violet, I go into the shadows to add a little glow and to tone down the green color. I have also used Dark indigo and Dark sepia in the deepest shadows of the leaves. The same greens and shadow colors were also used for the stem and thorns.

I have been intensifying the colors of the flower as the work progressed. When you darken one part of the drawing it's often necessary to darken another area. For the deepest shadows in the petals I used Derwent lightfast Violet. I was really pleased with the way this color worked out. Red violet was also used along with touches of Cold grey IV and Dark sepia.

So, this project is finished! I hope you enjoyed following my process. There is so much more I could say, but I thought I would share the basics. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments below.