1. Attach the watercolour paper to a board with a fine band of masking tape either side. Sketch out the scene, observing the petal shapes and the spaces surrounding them. Keep the pencil work light within the flowers.

2. Using a fine old brush, a sharpened twig or piece of bamboo, dip into the masking fluid and draw around the inner line of the main flowers. This will help to retain a neat edge when painting the background wash.

1. Prepare pools of colour: cadmium yellow pale, Indian yellow, Winsor blue (green shade), a green mix of Winsor blue (green shade) plus Indian yellow, and a stronger mix of the above green shade with a touch of cadmium red.

2. Wet the whole background area surrounding the flower heads with a No. 10 brush. Sweep the coolest pale cadmium yellow on to the damp paper, keeping the top free of colour at this stage. While wet apply loose brush strokes of the warmer Indian yellow.

1. Continue building up the washes of colour while still damp.

2. Apply Winsor blue (green shade) at the top so that it flows down and merges with some of the yellow to create variegated shades of green.

3. Add the pre-prepared green mix into the distance to give depth to the composition. Finally, apply the slightly stronger mix of green.

4. Sprinkle a little salt in the background to give added texture and suggestions of distant flowerheads. The paint needs to be damp to achieve this effect, as each grain dissolves and absorbs the colour, which leaves lighter areas.

5. I also lifted out a few flower head shapes in the distance with dampened paper towel.

While the salt is drying and providing the lower half of the painting is still damp, continue by painting sweeping brushstrokes upwards of varying shades of green to suggest the foliage.

1. Sweep away the dry salt.

2. Begin to paint the flower heads. Working wet-on-dry, surround each trumpet with a tinge of pale cadmium yellow. Diffuse with a damp brush to give a soft halo effect.

Using the warmer Indian yellow begin the inside of the trumpets. Draw the brush from the centre towards the outer edge, leaving dry white paper to suggest the anthers.

Whilst slightly damp, apply a strong warmer layer of Indian yellow mixed with a touch of cadmium red, again starting in the centre.

Draw the brush to the outer edge, leaving gaps of the pale base showing to suggest the frilly effect.

To add depth to the centre, touch a little pre-mixed green around the stamens.

1. Mix a pool of grey using a mix of diluted cadmium red with ultramarine blue. Rather than mix the colour to a uniform shade, leave it semi-mixed in the palette so that some of the mix appears a cool blue-grey and some a warmer grey. A touch of yellow in the mix can create a deeper tone.

2. Working wet-on-dry, apply soft tones of colour in the shadowed areas. Hard edges work well for the shadow, but a dampened brush to soften crease lines can be effective. While areas are damp, different strengths or tones of grey can be dropped in to give variation.

Continue applying the shadows on the light petals. Observe how they are cast due to the direction of the light and how petals overlap each other. The shadowed lines follow the direction of the growth of the petals and give movement.

1. Using a yellow-green mix of Indian yellow with a touch of Winsor blue (green shade) and a blue-green mix with proportionally more Winsor blue (green shade) in the mix, paint the stems and leaves, wet-on-dry.

2. To give variation of tone, lift a little colour out while damp to give form. Add a stronger mix of green on the shadowed side of the stems and oval-shaped ovary by strengthening the green with a touch of cadmium red.

The finished painting

Daffodils, watercolour on Bockingford 140lbNOT watercolour paper, (32x24cm)

Finally, add detailing, deeper veins on the leaves, stronger touches of yellow in the background and a pale wash on the stamens to complete the painting.

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