Long & short embroidery - getting ready

There's been a lot about sewing here recently and I think it's highest time to come back to roots of this blog, i.e. embroidery. I believe I mentioned once I want to try out long and short stitching. Today, I finished preparing the fabric, the pattern and put it onto the hoop. The fabric is linen (Zweigart), pattern take from Trish Burr book: Long and Short Stitch Embroidery: A Collection of Flowers

To transfer the pattern I used transfer pen from Prym. You trace the pattern on the transparent paper and then iron it onto the fabric. The minus of such pen is that it's not removable, hence cannot be used for each embroidery. But for this one I guess it'll be fine as the thread will cover it all.

I'm a little anxious how I'll handle this type of stitching. It reminds me of painting and I was never good at that. But maybe this is because I used brush instead of needle. We'll see. It's the embroidery I wanted to try for a long time. In fact I just searched through the emails and I bought Trish Burr's book in 2008! Such a long time to start trying. But now it is the right time. In fact I'm starting now :). Cheers!