The next painting was an attempt to recreate a reference photo in watercolor. The goal wasn't to faithfully copy it (and I'm not even capable of), but rather to capture the beautiful subject itself.

The sketch was done quite quickly, so I didn't want to overthink it – today's painting would be a wet-on-wet background with lots of green tones and a little brown to indicate additional branches, creating a blurry background for atmosphere.

What can I say? In some places, the foliage with the yellows and greens worked well, while suddenly, red tones appeared (presumably, the palette wasn't clean), and trying to salvage it only made things worse. This is why I had to slap on another layer of green, which ruined the gradients. The leopard itself was far too dark, and my attempt to add sepia to the shadows was a bad idea too, because it made everything look muddy and not vibrant anymore.

It's the same all over: with each new painting, I'm a little more amazed at how difficult watercolors are to master. Nevertheless, the painting has its certain charm, almost like an illustration from a children's book. If I ever manage to get my shit together...