Leaving the comfort of 'good enough' behind when creating a painting is hard to do. How do you 'take it to another level'? Here I show how I manipulated my painting during creation. 18x24" oil on Raymar All-media linen panel. See supply list for colors. Color mixing palette is shown in middle part of demo.
Watercolor artists can look at the end segment to see the design and value, then create 'light and bright' splashy washes (OK to be somewhat careless and let color mingle). Then, use the darks present in the early demo stage to layer progressive darks on. Be thoughtful of rich, full-value darks (review basics video in fundamentals if you are unsure of how to control water levels or achieve a dark). Create edges and 'melt them out' to have no circled rocks.
Challenge yourself to push through the 'good enough' stage of your art. Really think about what is the best part and what can be improved. Remember that improvement is not always detail! Often it's taking away detail and 'literal things' to make thoughtful shape, value and design decisions.