What I cant figure out is how to stop the smearing when you overlap layers. I have the shapes down pat for the rose, pansy, etc. But I am getting frustrated because the end petals color look nothing like the first ones. To correct this I have added more paint to the brush, wiped the brush between petals, then added more paint, etc. Short of letting it dry between petals, I dont know what I am doing wrong. Whenever I paint the second or third petal, the darker edge seems to pick up the white or light color that is already on the canvas or paper, smearing the colors together, and lessening the depth of the shading to next to nothing.

I havent taken a class or anything, so if someone could PLEASE tell me what I could do to fix this or what YOU do to prevent this, I would be extremely grateful!

You're going to have some 'blending' when you overlap layers. That's how you get your shading and highlighting. What do you mean by 'smearing'? Do you mean the colors are running together so the highlighting & shading are not clear? As far as the stroking itself goes it sounds like you're getting it. BUT when you work on any porous surface such as paper or untreated canvas you should be using a floating medium. The porous surface will drink up your paint very quickly giving you a dry, uneven surface to work with. Try practicing on some waxed paper or glass and you'll see what I mean. You'll notice a big difference.

Also when working on paper or canvas you might have to reload your brush with paint on every or every other stroke to keep your brush full and your strokes smooth. DO NOT wipe the brush clean between reloading unless changing colors. Once you load your brush 3/4 full for painting, just redip the corners of the brush back into the colors you're using before each stroke to keep it full.

Hope any of this info helped. Good luck and keep practicing!