It’s disappointing when you work hard at something, and think you’re doing the right thing, only to find out it hasn’t worked out as you hoped. I was disappointed to lose the lovely background when I felt I needed to make it recede, and today it was a shame that I needed to make the birds darker too… It was definitely necessary, but the additional working has made everything look more and more messy and overworked. However, the results are an improvement even if they’re not what I was aiming for… I’m slowly beginning to believe (rather than simply understand) that making mistakes, rather than getting it right, helps me improve and learn. And I really don’t like making mistakes! I understand that this is getting messy because I didn’t plan better, I don’t have a good enough grasp of the qualities of particular paints, and of water quantities. It’s tricky, especially when reading about it doesn’t help it sink in – only practical experience does, and it takes lots of time for that to happen. Overall all this is still turning into a pretty respectable painting, and with some more work it will be OK. I need to be much bolder with my brush strokes and colours for it to be what I was aiming for, but I really shouldn’t forget how much better it is than I would have achieved 6 months ago 😀