February 3

Higher quality watercolors definitely make a difference.  I had to take a break from acrylics as I've used up some very key colors.  Varying shades is a lot harder without white.  Until I get new ones, it's time to move on to other mediums.  Unfortunately, that also means learning the key shades you're missing from the new set you bought.  In this case, my watercolor set has no black or gray shades.  I wanted gray mountains.  I was able to make a bluish grayish color for the sky, but I was not successful with the mountains.  I think I like it.  I have a lot more to learn about watercolors though.  To youtube!

January 2

OK, I'm not completely disappointed in this.  This is my first attempt at actually painting with watercolors other than doodling with them with the kids or painting as a kids.  It actually came out a lot better than I thought it would.  The inspiration came from a watercolor tutorial I saw on YouTube.  It's supposed to be misty mountains at sunset.  What this experience really taught me is that quality counts with watercolors.  I bought a cheap pallet thinking I only wanted to play around so buying a more expensive set wasn't necessary.  Oh my, is it ever necessary.  I really struggled to get any kind of depth of color out of the pallet.  They stayed washed out and weak no matter how hard I tried to pick up more color.  As a result I am currently sporting a bluish-purple thumb and middle finger from trying to squeeze color out of the brush to get it to give up some richer color.  I am really eager to explore watercolors further, however, I think it's going to have to wait until I get higher quality paints.