Hibiscus after Rain

After two weeks of unremitting heat in early July, the temperature dropped from 39-40 degrees Celsius and it rained - just for a day - on July 26th. So I took some pictures of this Hibiscus Blue Bird (and a Campsis or Trumpet flower) and decided to paint it.
The first picture shows the support, some scribbled petals, and a colour chart of the few pastels used to get me to this point - CarbOthello in the main.

The pencils are fine for initial drawing, but not for painting, with the exception of the stigmas and pistil in the flower's centre. After checking all my blues, I decided on Sennelier 334, 335 and 336 as being the most suitable for colour and for a subtle movement of tone within the hue.

The dark centre was put in using Unison, and all the raindrops were outlined. The centre was enhanced with some subtle touches of very dark red from Roché. Once the petals were near completion I put in some Sennelier 434 dark blue to see how the background would show up the bloom.

It only remained to finish the leaves - not too much detail needed here -  finish the background, and sign! The finished piece is on Pastelmat, 10 x 8 ins or 25 x 20 cms.

Hibiscus after Rain © Niall O'Neill