I have a beautiful vase by ceramic artist Brenda Mader. A single tulip looked very elegant in it, but I found that my little sketch didn’t really capture the elegance. By the time I got around trying a different approach, the tulip was fading fast, but still attractive, to my eye anyways.
First, in Stillan & Birn Zeta sketchbook.
Then, in a Handbook watercolour book.
Lessons learned: conveying the feeling doesn’t mean you need to do a realistic representation. Shadows don’t have to be super dark in order to read as shadow.