A couple of things I've learnt along the way -
Providing an outline of an object into which you apply paint to define its light and shade is preferable to creating a detailed sketch then trying to impose colour on it.
Always have a scrap of paper with you to test watercolour mixes before you commit the brush to your piece of art - it's very difficult, if not impossible to undo what you've added to a watercolour. Overpainting to hide a mistake doesn't work, in my opinion.
Here are a few attempts.
The first one, painted in the university botanical gardens, was overseen by a guy who was taking photos of the flowers. When he saw the outline of one of the flowers, to which I had just added a pale yellow wash, he commented 'Oh, you're just going for an impression then...' :S
The second sketch was me seeing how much I could alter the warmth of colour, reaching for mauve.
Lastly, today, I studied a potted pelargonium in my Dad's back garden. I sketched the outline of the flower head, the leaves and visible stems, then worked from adding lightest tones to darkest and finished up adding pencil detail.
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