Ugly Ugly beginnings

I found these pictures I took (while looking for something else)--i forgot I took them --it has been so long. But thought I would post them on my blog, because I think it is interesting. I paint from photos as u can see (I paint slow so it works best to paint from photos)
This is the very start of this painting--Look how ugly---I have looked at step  by step of other artists and they don't start this ugly! I was really excited about painting this--this was one of several set-ups that I arranged  from peony's that I picked out of my yard) And, as I said , I  was very pleased with the composition--sometimes they feel more pleasing than other times. you can see the photo  that I am painting from.