Leaf with Ring Box - Work in Progress

5 x 7, oil on panel, work in progress

Yesterday Nowell and I had lunch with our good friends Jaimee and Sean. Jaimee is about to have her first baby any minute now, and both our husbands are off work at the moment, so we took the opportunity to have a nice lunch all together on a weekday. We all enjoyed the good food and company, and the excitement and nervousness of a new baby coming; the feeling that everything is about to change.

It's been overcast all week, but yesterday was warm and sunny, so after lunch we walked their dog to a nearby park where I collected a handful of leaves to paint. This is one of the leaves.

I would like to work on this for another session so I'm not uploading it to eBay yet. My process shots are below:

I want to continue tomorrow or Monday because I want to try for more detail. Also, I have to work on colors more: The top of the leaf is supposed to be bright red while reflecting the cool white light, and I'm having a hard time making it look pale, cool red (pink?) while also contrasting sufficiently with the the warm underside.

I'm struggling with brush strokes these days. I've noticed that when the paint gets thick, each brushstroke from a Filbert shaped brush is shaped like a trough, with thick new paint on the outside edges of each stroke, but the center carving into the paint below. As light as I can touch the brush to the surface, I can't seem to stop this from happening. So I am going to try using Rounds soon.

I'm starting to wish I had a teacher to answer all my questions. Suggestions and tips from fellow painters would be welcome. What brush shapes do you use?