Third time lucky for the roses

I've been looking at my painting from time to time, and concluded that it was just too bright and happy. The day I painted it was bitterly cold, and I'd intended to convey that frostiness, but the colours got in there and drowned out that thought....but how to push them back?

At the beginning of this month I thought I'd try some multi-media additions of tissue paper, just leaving the red roses peeking through, but the tissue I had was too thick:

However when I pulled it off, it had left some fabulous textural marks with the diluted white paint I'd used to attach them to the surface...so there I have it: the marks made by the tissue give just the amount of opacity I wanted. A very happy accident!

I'm still deciding whether the trunk on the left needs the same treatment, and I think I'm going to emphasise further the red of the roses - they may even get enormously enlarged, then I want to do something to strengthen the iron ring top left to balance them.

Otherwise I've been in the garden, getting very excited about seeds that are sprouting, so any art has been a bit neglected of late. But a trip to London is sure to inspire me......