Rose - colored pencil sketch - draft

So I have started working on the colored pencil of this rose drawing. It's interesting to study the shading and try to replicate that in color. I have a ways to go yet, but I like how parts of it are turning out. We'll see if that continues! Everything is a learning process... :)

One thing I do notice is that keeping the pencils very sharp and using a light touch helps keep everything blended together. I can then darken shadow areas as needed, without having too much heavy color already on the paper. This also allows for better blending of different colors. For example, on the darkest shadows of the rose itself, I'm using three different Faber-Castell Polychromos colors - light purple pink (started with this), middle purple pink, and dark red.