Watercolour Alpine Strawberry

I had such a problem painting this alpine strawberry. It seemed like a good idea at the time but I could not quite get it to a point where I was very happy and left it at happy enough. It's in the Strathmore 400 series journal on the page opposite the raspberries and vanilla ice cream painting (which was a whole lot better). It's time to move on. 

Alpine strawberry in watercolour

I disliked the original background so, in desperation, went into my garden and picked an alpine strawberry leaf and used it to create imprints on the background simply by painting the leaf and pressing it to the surface of the paper. I quite like the result and this was a first for me. I've got a garden full of potential. Who knew? I used Daniel Smith paints, mostly transparent. 

If you've never eaten Alpine strawberries, they are delicious. They have a slightly perfumed taste to them, are small and tend to be rounder. They self seed quite readily so I have the small plants dotted about in my garden borders providing pretty flowers too. They are not invasive and are hardy.