Been busy lately and didn't manage to post

But I finally tried out the gouache pallet I bought in a [previous post](https://steemit.com/review/@jen0revision/review-gouache-pallet). I decided rather than trying something simple to start, I was confident I would quickly get the hand of it, as in the past I would often paint with oil or acrylic. However, this wasn't the best idea. ![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmTAKHWW2zkQ1BpJvpm6oaQqffo2Lj6WpNPCV4ksHnEFKE/image.png) *the sketch* To start, I sketched what I wanted to paint, a strawberry and its flower. Again, I was overconfident and quickly struggled. ![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmd28nBHtJ5gCmtQ6ba5ZRNyC2QB1qwvzV68XNtknMb61X/image.png) *the colours* I struggled to open the paint pots, not a great sign. I thought these colours would be what I used, which I did! ![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRUohsYbHSD3hGZgBKv5rrBe3wTMAea1mD8wtVbdkKVay/image.png) *the base* Of course, I painted the base colour of a strawberry, which is red. Easy. ![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmTViDzmBaznba1eCykFfSNQyv8ywXQ2Aq5ks7MZjmKruq/image.png) *shading* Not sure if it's visible, but I tried to use a darker red to shade it a bit to give some definition. ![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmNbVdv6d4K3WC9SThSQccZxbdRTfMnyoqH3aCvq4iJPQw/image.png) *texture* With a lighter orangey brown like colour, I started trying to define the strawberry seeds. Honestly, this looks a lot better in the picture than in person! ![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmSrvFMzErg8Ttf442nfsF8N1gBmSqdGoxnpvLmCrLPGTV/image.png) *struggle starts* Eventually, I started to blend everything together while I was painting, as I'm not patient for the paint to dry. I added dark red/black dots for the seeds, and this made me so unhappy. ![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmYjrfp7vBez2nqepDhphotjpxwxyx3xKLdAoRKmSNsgx7/image.png) *adding more shading* I tried to add some white areas and a little bit of a darker colour at the edges too, again, wasn't really happy with the outcome. ![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmdmW4Yyuk4e8zXgybxYwqcHr3dV368DTqqx8CyT1SWC27/image.png) *darker shading* Did another bit of darker shading. But now I felt like this was too intense... ![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmUK1q8UX6DCPfPWknojwXwxJtTdFcRF3S5jrCjz5tA8rp/image.png) *getting tired* This was taking longer than I thought, making it hard for me to consistently take pictures. I started on the leaf/stem of the strawberry, but at this point I was kind of discouraged. ![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmaoREqWNRbjVXedaGZFoxU6mRgfJXbigPx6eNvLfp6wAQ/image.png) *finished!* I kind of gave up and just slapped on some dark green, I was disappointed with the outcome as I had thought I would be an art genius. But that's overconfidence on my part. I will try again and definitely follow a tutorial better!

Hope you like it!