I think many artists would agree that watercolor is one of the most challenging mediums to use. Trying to correct any mistakes in watercolor is extremely difficult, if not impossible. I took a lovely photo of Moose River over the past summer, that I wanted to paint. I did all the work of sketching and transferring the image onto watercolor paper and started to paint in the sky. It was a complete disaster. Evidently I’d forgotten how to paint clouds. Painting skies in watercolor requires you to paint very fast and boldly, which is the opposite of how I paint. I made myself practice clouds for a week, before I tried again.

Finally I returned to my original sketch and started over. Here is my final painting, entitled Moose River. The sky is still not what I originally envisioned, but I made myself finish the painting anyways. No matter how many years you paint, there is always room for improvement, and you can learn something new every time you paint.