Dilute a small amount of dark paint in a neutral colour; a mix of burnt umber and cerulean blue works well.

Quickly map out your composition with loose brushstrokes. The idea is simply to separate the areas of sky, leaves and flowers.

Begin depicting the darkest areas of the subject, which is the centre of the flower masses.

For this stage use a mix of cadmium red, permanent rose, cobalt blue and burnt umber with a touch of white to make the colour look muddier. Vary the proportion and quantity of those colours in the mix depending on the areas tackled; the dark part on the right has more burnt umber and cobalt blue, while the left has more red.

Keep it thin, diluted and use very loose brushwork.

Still working in the darks, start to add definition to the masses of flowers.

Use your previous mix of colours, but add more cadmium red and permanent rose to achieve a more saturated hue.

The brushstrokes are applied here in a calligraphic style, like spontaneous lines dancing on the canvas. Refrain from seeing each flower individually, instead simply look for shapes, darks, lights and colours.

From this stage onwards, only using a touch of water (or turpentine if you are using traditional oils) to dilute your paints; just enough without losing the texture.

Start moving up slightly on the scale from dark to light with the patches of lighter pink.

As the light source is behind our subject, it makes everything inside the masses of flowers look rather dull and desaturated so make sure you keep it muddy, with a greyish pink. To make this colour, use the same mix as in the previous step, but add more white and a touch of cobalt blue to make it greyer and lighter.

As tempting as it can be to paint the highlights in the flowers now, keep working from dark to light and, therefore, move on to the green leaves that represent mid-tones in the painting.

The darker area for the leaves is a mix of ultramarine blue, raw sienna and cadmium yellow; the lighter part is cerulean blue and yellow ochre mixed together.

The branches of the tree, depicted in the initial drawing, will have sunk in the board and look too light and faded compared to the rest so give them a second coat using a fresh mix of burnt umber and cerulean blue to darken them again.

As you are applying the paint, vary the pressure you apply on your brush so your branch is sometimes opaque and sometimes slightly faded, but never monotonous.

Finally, the moment you’ve been waiting for! It is now time to paint those lovely bright and light pinks.

It’s a good idea to use clean brushes for every remaining stage now. It didn’t matter too much getting the colours muddy before, but now you want your colours as saturated and crisp as possible.

For the saturated pink in the middle of the flowers, use a mix of permanent rose, cadmium red and a touch of white.

For the lightest edges (halo) of the flowers, use the same mix but add more white and, in some parts, add Naples yellow to make a warmer pink.

Don’t be afraid to use a lot of paint in order to achieve some juicy impasto. It will be a great way to attract the eye of the viewer.

Now to tackle the sky.

Before you start, take a moment to observe the variety of colours in this area. The lightest patch of sky is near the centre left of the painting, where the sun is shining. The colour is actually more yellow than blue, and achieved with a mix of titanium white, Naples yellow and a touch of cerulean blue.

As you move away from this point, the sky becomes bluer, with more cerulean blue added to the mix (but still a lot of white).

The top of the sky is the bluest part, with even a touch of cobalt blue, too.

Don't worry about covering all those white gaps near the edges of the flowers and leaves, you don't want your brush to pick up the colours and contaminate the blue.

When painting en plein air, what matters is capturing the colours and tones as quickly as possible as the sun keeps moving. Retouching the edges and refining the drawing can be done later.

The core of the painting is now complete. It might still be slightly rough, but all the colours are now there and hopefully we’ve achieved a satisfactory feeling of light. All it needs now is polishing, refining and adding well-placed accents.

Work on the central bunch of flowers, adding more brushstrokes of pink and amending the shape further by adding more sky over some flowers.

The finished painting

Cherry Blossom, water-mixable oil on canvas board, (25.5x30.5cm)

In this final stage, fill all the unwanted white gaps around the flowers and leaves, add some extra juicy pink brushstrokes, and apply lighter green patches in the foliage to accentuate the feeling of light.

The lightest green colour is cerulean blue, cadmium yellow and a touch of titanium white mixed together.