Inadequacy is the mother of invention

I thought to use my collection of lotus photos as teaching material, as a means of applying traditional brush techniques to a composition that was not derived from rote.

And I found another photo that I liked, 

and I happened to have some scraps of cicada skin Xuan handy, so I just grabbed a piece and started to paint on it. The translucent paper exudes an entirely different persona.

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Upon examining the initial photograph and subsequent painting, as well as my second attempt, I became dissatisfied with the visual clutter of the paper.  This clutter was not due to an excessive number of objects, but rather the uniformity of values among all the characters in the painting, resulting in a flat and prosaic appearance.

Perhaps I should have anticipated the inclusion of blurred backgrounds to enhance depth perception, akin to the concept of bokeh in photography.

Alternatively, I could have painted the leaves with a lighter hue, employing a more diffused technique to simulate distance.  Additionally, I should have distinguished my main character, or protagonist, by making them as clear and vivid as possible, while allowing the supporting cast to gradually fade into the background.

I could experiment with this theory on my current painting, the one depicted on the cicada skin Xuan. However, I was uncertain whether my sloppy techniques would be sufficient to achieve the desired effect.

In a moment of inspiration, I considered the possibility of superimposing the translucent Xuan onto the other layer of paper. This technique would result in the objects on the second layer being muted by the top layer.

It looked wicked.  I was all for it!

I went ahead and mounted my two pieces together.  When the papers were wet, they were almost transparent, allowing everything to show through from under the papers. 

Opacity was restored after the papers dried.

The painting on the bottom was now quite subdued, contrasting with the one on top.  Layers in Photoshop must have been invented this way!

But then I realized one of the petals was washed out in the mounting process.  I must have loaded too much undiluted color onto my brush while I was painting the blossom.

Worry not, a little clever cropping could save my project. 

It was all in the packaging.  Now my painting had a lot of objects in it but didn't feel too busy for me.

I was able to cheat.

Mission accomplished.  Inadequacy is the mother of invention.