Magnolia I ~~ art quilt finish

I love combining quilting and painting--remember the cotton paintings? There's another here. It's a time-consuming joy that I don't think I'd have been able to appreciate back when I was working. Oddly, I started painting not long before retirement, so everything just sort of fell into place. Well, I've moved on from cotton to magnolias. 

This is my first attempt. I see so many flaws, but I've decided to let them go. If I move on, I can take the lessons with me to the next painting. 

While they are glaring in real life, they don't look so hideous in a photo. Getting depth was a struggle, but making the petals look cupped and curled...it feels impossible. But I'm determined!

And then there are the leaves to contend with. I need to work on those. But there's something I did that I love and that was to add ghost leaves in the background. I might do things a little differently later, but this idea really works for me.

There's another coming. I like it even more than this first. But I took an informal poll on Facebook and the two are about even in preference, so maybe I should show this one a little more love. What are you thinking of this one? What constructive criticism can you offer? I want to improve and knowing what to work on makes that job a bit easier.