I had a frustrating time recently trying to follow along with a how-to watercolor video. This was my first result:

There are things I definitely don’t like, such as how straight the line of trees is and the hideous blooms on the sand. I kind of like the clouds and the grass. I resolved to redo this until I was happy. And at a certain point I recalled hey, I did this a few months ago, so I went into my box of old paintings and pulled this out:

The color of the sky is interesting and I’m OK with how the three areas meet, which was not the case in my next attempt:

Not liking the meeting of green and brown at all, nor the bloom and harsh lines in the blue. Trees still too straight. I used masking fluid for the clouds and think it’s a good start.

I’m happier with the clouds, trees, beach grass and sand here. I tried masking fluid to separate the three color fields and found it too obvious; doubt I will do that again.

I love the sky color and clouds, even though they’re not realistic. The trees I largely like, as well as the color of the flowers. The path is hideous, largely because it is wet on dry, as opposed to the wet on wet of every other portion. If there weren’t such a contrast, I’d like it better. I also wish I had gone back and made the left side of the path as dark as the right side to match.