Refining Things

Yesterday I spent the day refining some of the plant life in my new piece:

I thought that the hanging pitcher plants below were finished, but when I peeked at them again after teaching my afternoon class, I decided that they need more work.  I want to build the gouache up more to give them an extra shiny, velvety texture.
I do like the tangle of tree branches though.  Branches have always kind of intimidated me for some reason.  But I think that painting a bazillion birdcages in linear perspective has primed me for any challenge.