Use a 2B pencil to sketch out the main shapes on the paper. Secure it to the board with masking tape, prop the board up and apply masking fluid as shown using the nylon No. 3 brush. Prepare a well of raw sienna and aureolin, allowing them to merge slightly, but keeping them mostly separate. Do the same with French ultramarine, burnt sienna and Winsor violet for a dark well; cobalt blue and permanent rose for a blue well; raw sienna, aureolin and Hooker’s green dark for a green well; and some alizarin crimson on its own.

Wet the paper thoroughly with the 16mm (5⁄8in) filbert, then use the No. 12 round to apply raw sienna and cobalt blue to the sky area, adding touches of Winsor violet.

Working wet-into-wet, apply raw sienna and burnt sienna to the treeline.

Use the green well to add colour around the leaves, then use raw sienna, Winsor violet and burnt sienna for the ground area.

Continue adding raw sienna and the colours of the dark well between the leaves of the main flowers. This will heighten the contrast between the leaves and flowers in the finished picture.

Pick up the board and tilt the painting to encourage the colours to merge (see inset). Put it back down and add some strong alizarin crimson, French ultramarine and burnt sienna, mixing them on the paper. Allow the painting to dry completely.

Using the No. 10 brushes, lay in some raw sienna next to one of the leaf outlines, drawing it round the leaf.

While the raw sienna is wet, use the other No. 10 brush to add a mix of colours from the dark well.

Repeat this over the rest of the woodland floor, varying the hues and strength of the colours you are using from the dark well. By painting the negative shapes around them in this way, the hellebore leaves are made to emerge from the background of the woodland floor.

Using clean water instead of the raw sienna, and the green well and burnt sienna instead of the dark well, repeat the process across the foliage in the mid-area of the painting.

Paint the leaves above the flowers with aureolin, then drop in colours from the green well wet-into-wet.

Do the same on the leaves in front of the tree, drawing the wet paint across to form the veins.

Use the same colours and techniques across the remaining leaves.

Still using the No. 10 round brushes, wet the trees with clean water before using the dark well and raw sienna to make vertical strokes and diamond shapes on the trunks for a bark effect. Emphasise lighter colours on the left and darker ones on the right.

Use the tip of a No. 10 brush to draw a line of Hooker’s green dark along the midrib of one of the leaves on the lower left (see inset). Add touches of French ultramarine and burnt sienna wet-into-wet, then use a damp No. 6 brush to draw the paint up the leaf, leaving gaps to suggest side veins.

Add more dark green with the No. 10 to strengthen the shading, then use a wet No. 6 to draw side veins down over the light side.

Apply dark green along the bottom of the leaf with the No. 10 brush, then draw the colour up with a wet No. 6 brush to emphasise the side veins on the lighter half. Allow to dry.

Paint some of the other leaves in the same way.

Draw the side of the No. 10 dry brush down over the trees in broken strokes to bring out the texture of the paper and suggest bark. Use the colours from the dark well, with an emphasis on burnt sienna.
 

Wet the sky area with clean water, then use the No. 10 round brushes to suggest misty tree shapes and shadows in the background.

Allow the painting to dry, then carefully rub away all of the masking fluid with your finger.

Use the size 0 colour shaper to apply masking fluid to the stamens of the hellebores, and allow to dry.

Use a No. 10 round brush to wet the flowers with clean water and apply a dilute wash of aureolin to the centres. Vary the hue with touches of the green well.

Make a dilute mix of cobalt blue with a touch of permanent rose. Use the No. 6 brush to suggest shading on the edge of the leftmost hellebore’s petals.

Draw the colour in with a wet brush to blend and soften the transition, then paint the other petals in the same way.

Use a stronger mix of the same colour to strengthen the shadows in the centre of the hellebore and to paint in the shadows cast by the stamens.

Paint the other flowers in the same way, adding a touch of permanent rose to the base of the opening buds at the bottom. Paint the small leaves using the colours in the green well.

With the flowers in place, use the colours from the dark well and the No. 6 round brush to bring out the stems and foliage below them with negative painting.

Paint the stems with raw sienna and drop alizarin crimson in wet-into-wet.

Use your fingers to rub away the masking fluid from the stamens (see inset), then paint them with a thin wash of aureolin, using the No. 6 round. Allow to dry.

Add a little permanent rose to warm the aureolin. Wet the flower centres and drop in the warm colour. Dot the same colour into the ends of the stamens.

Warm the colour with a little more permanent rose and use it to shade the yellow areas.

Add a dilute touch of the shadow mix to the lower right of each flower centre, away from the source of light. Use a stronger shadow mix in between the stamens with the tip of the No. 6 round brush.

Make any final touches to the piece that you feel necessary, then remove the masking tape to finish.

The finished painting