Please can you give me advice about painting flowers - surely it is impossible to paint each petal or flower head individually? I have tried using a wet-on-wet technique (but still need to master this!) and have then selected the main part of the petals and emphasized these.

June Crawshaw replies: The arrangement of flowers is up to the individual artist but it is always important to have a focal point within the arrangement. This is the area that you paint with more detail. Look carefully to get the character of the flowers and paint your brush strokes in the shape of the petals. When painting wet-on-wet, you won't get clean edges because your colours will merge together. To make a definite flower, petal or leaf shape, wait for the first colours to dry. Then, when you paint over the dry colour, you will get the clean, crisp edges you need to show the form of the flower.