I took a wonderful workshop with Kathy Anderson at the Aucour Academy in Charleston a couple of years ago. The class was painting flowers plein air. Sounded like fun but was very difficult. All I had left at the end of the session was the start of this painting with the little bud kind of top center. I ended up wiping the painting offbut kept thinking about it for the rest of the year and I finally figured out how to do the painting! I had taken lots of reference photos and ended up picking a flower from one photo and adding another from a different one to finally come up with this piece. So even if I wasn't successful in the class I had learned enough to come back home and figure out how to paint these azaleas. One thing Kathy shared that startled me and made me laugh and is another thing I loved about her class - if nature doesn't provide you with the design you want, you create it! She brought little vials of water like the florist uses and would pick a flower from somewhere else and add it to her design - putting the flowers she needed in the light, etc. It was a wonderful exercise that I try to remember when a painting doesn't work for me! Try it!