Hi, I am hoping for some advice on what do do with this watercolor of a dogwood in my backyard. I was trying to be “loose” with the composition and color. I don’t feel like the blooms pop enough though; maybe I should add white gouache or work on the background or set it aside for the bin and start over (actually will do that anyway but I want to salvage this if possible!!) I would appreciate any advice that would help me finish this. Thanks in advance.
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Hi David, thank you for sharing your lovely watercolor piece. I don’t do watercolour drawings so all I can do is to show you some possible outcomes in a digital format after adding the changes I myself would think necessary.
I would first brighten up the flowers and at the same time, darken the background. I would not make the entire background darker, I would choose the areas around the flowers only, being very careful not to make the whole composition unnatural. You’ve selected some “loose” style for this watercolor piece and I would take advantage of that choice. So this is the first edited version.
And then I would think about adding some details to the flowers parts. Specifically, I would add some darker- darkest dark areas to give the flowers a 3-D feel. The overall drawing should remain the loose style, so I would need to be careful not to lean too much towards realism by adding shading to the flowers. I would also make the pink part, the central green part of the flowers clearer. And this is the second edited version.
Hope this helps! 
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If you lighten up the background it will make the flowers pop more. I feel you did a great job. I love it.
Super awesome feedback—I will work on this some more. Thank you Dgh
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A gouache white can help on the blooms.
Yes - I agree. The flowers need to pop! So either brighten those up or darken the background. The painting is lovely but the flower don’t show up very well