Wow! It sure is easy to overwork a watercolor painting!

[bif]

I recently did a painting of some storm clouds over the ocean. It got to a point where I was pretty happy with it and should have left it for a couple days before doing anything with it. But I thought the clouds needed some darkening and the hint of rain should have been a tad darker as well. With a couple of quick brushstrokes I totally ruined it. That sure can happen in a hurry. That's one of the things I like about acrylics, you can almost always correct your mistakes.

[Hope22]

1. I'm so sorry to hear this.

It’s so easy to do that! In some instances I will paint and cut out what I think is needed and lay it on the painting to see how it looks but even then I can’t be certain that the actual paint will cooperate with the vision in my brain.😁 All else fails I take a good photo before proceeding. My best to you!

[Irish_Dem]

2. People do this all the time with gardening, home decor, clothing, hair, make up, etc.

I am not an artist but do have an eye for what is esthetically pleasing.

I once had a neighbor who would gradually put up outdoor Christmas decorations.
At one point in the process in was lovely. But then the more he put up, the more
garish and ugly it became.

People do the same with home decor, their landscaping, clothing and make-up etc.

You have to know when to stop. But that takes practice.

[CrispyQ]

4. I've ruined lots of paintings.

My 8th grade home ec teacher used to tell us, "Stand in front of a full length mirror & take off at least two accessories." Later someone told me the rule of three - never more than three of anything. Years later I took a "less is more" approach to my unsuccessful resume & suddenly started getting calls.

[Irish_Dem]

5. I am a volunteer mentor to undergraduates for my alma mater.

I help the students with their grad school applications.

And yes exactly, I cut down their applications by at least half.

[Tetrachloride]

3. I can appreciate the various visual mediums.

Acrylic is what I have seen the most of the traditional ones.

It took me a while with the others to get them.

[Ocelot II]

6. Yes, it is, and it's why I avoid watercolor like the plague and stick to oils.

I've done a few watercolors and have made a mess unless I use a dry brush, and even then I can't fix mistakes. I don't care for acrylics much either, because they dry too fast and you can't really do effective glazing, but at least you can paint over something that goes sideways. The down side of oils is unless you are doing alla prima, which I don't, you twiddle your thumbs for days waiting for a layer to dry, but you can choose opaque or transparent paints - opaque if you have to fix something.

[moniss]

7. It happens with the other creative arts

as well. Sometimes a songwriter or lyricist will work something over and over and not realize until later it was just fine from the beginning. Adding layers and layers of instruments or twists in the lyrics aren't always necessary for a piece to be beautiful and convey the vision/thought of the artist. It's one reason that some of the best songwriters/lyricists begin something and may leave it sit for years and come back to it several times to evaluate it and may never put it out or be satisfied with it. Just an attempt at an expression about something that didn't work enough for us. We'll keep working our expressions and maybe something will come along.

[LiberalLoner]

8. Watercolor is so maddening. I wonder if gouache is more forgiving? Because

To me, watercolor seems flat out impossible.