I have continued with the flower areas today but I'm a little frustrated with the contrast in colour. Paint can never replace light, but it is possible to create the effect that light has on colour. This is my struggle with this section of the composition. I cannot seem to create the light effect that I want. Using blue with the warm shades of magenta, seems to 'dull' the effect.
I shall not give up, but suspect that, when I need less blue, I will find creating a sun-lit sensation will be a little easier. The flowers in the right of the composition  are more pure magenta than the ones in deep shadow. The palette that I am using for the flowers is Rose Madder Genuine, Quinacridone Magenta, Ultramarine Violet, Cobalt blue and French Ultramarine, all from the W&N Artists' Water Colour range. I might experiment with other colours if I can find suitable ones in my supplies!

I have started to add the colour to the flowers. This specimen has flowers in deep shadow where they are almost blue to ones in full sun where the colour is 'bleached' to almost pink. The 'lit' flower her is almost ready for dropping off and so has already lost some of its colour.
This is the darkest section of the composition, which is why I chose to place the cup and saucer there.
I am always a little disappointed in the colour outcome, as paint can never have the real quality of light and, of course, I never use white paint. The problem with watercolour, especially this palette, is that it cannot be taken off once applied. This means that if it is too dark or intense, it has to, more or less, stay that way!

Almost at the end of the background the flowers of the composition are now very obvious and, once they are added the painting will take on a dimensional quality.

Just a little more added. This week, this painting has been neglected. School holidays and family duties had to come first. I hope to catch up over the next week.
Whilst I am working on this, I am also mind planning my next couple of projects. One is a watercolour of the rainforest as a client has expressed an interest in a smaller version of the large rainforest painting that I have on my wall and the other is a still life in oils using different techniques to my previous oil paintings. The problems for artists is having too many ideas and not enough time to express them. At least life can never be monotonous!

Not a lot of progress, as I have been busy entertaining client guests, but enough to begin to show the balance of flower areas in the composition.
I shall include the flowers that are in shadow first and the sun lit ones after. The flowers in shadow will have a darker, but more intense colour saturation and the others will show some sun bleaching of the colour. In this way it should enhance the lit quality of the work.
The composition is also beginning to indicate the 'triangle' impression that I like to use, which gives it 'stability'.

The leaves in this painting are mostly dark and silhouetted against a light background. The background areas will be quite small so that they do not compete with the flowers which will be in sunlight dimensionally in front of the leaves.
I chose to do this so that the cup and saucer will not be too camouflaged against the 'busy' background. I want to emphasise the dimension so that the cup will also have the effect of being in amongst the foliage, and not just 'floating' in front or superimposed on top. We shall see when it is complete if I have been successful or not!

The composition has been outlined and I have begun to add the darkest areas. These areas are the leaves that will be silhouetted against a lighter background.
I fluctuate when painting between starting with the darkest areas or finishing with them!
I finally decided to add the cup to the bottom left as opposed to being in the centre as with the first of the series, 'Tea Garden'.