Sumac in Watercolour

I have started a little watercolour of a stand of bare winter sumac heads that I shot a couple of years ago. This is the first time I have used more than a scrap of paper so this is an adventure! I am trying hard to find the original photo so you can see what inspired me. So far, no success! It is THERE but I can't get it to move for me. I'll keep trying and add it if I can. ... and--- I FOUND it !

Meanwhile, I have started my wash for the background. The picture was shot with a very shallow depth of field so the background is pastel and blurry. There was snow on the ground too so it was pretty bright.

Sorry about the shadow but the sun was low and very bright- and I , for one- am NOT complaining!! 

You won't be able to see it here likely but there was what looked like a bit of dust in the blurry background sumac flower but when I tried to remove it, it was a little undissolved fleck of Alizarin Crimson paint!!!

You can see the little OOPS toward the top left corner!

Betcha you can see it NOW!! Ah , well, this was NOT destined for the National Gallery or the AGO so I'll try and work with it. I stood to apply the wash and I think it helped me. I also used one of my little natural sponges to quickly wet the paper. That worked well too. Once it is all good and dry, I'll start round TWO. Stay tuned!