Thanks for your useful advice on NW coast palette. I created a tip sheet for reference and practiced using the hues. Here are some pracitices. I'll keep at it but it's time to step back for a while.

My tip sheet:

Northwest Coast Mist series - image 1 - student project

Last practice below on 3X4.5 Arches 140. Buttercup. I woke up to a muddy grey sky with a strip of blue at the horizon and above the fog. It was darker than this but I'm trying to keep it light and seep the hues into each other, muted. First buttercups are glowing in my field now so I tried to apply some of your flower power class tips. Outlined with colored pencil.

Northwest Coast Mist series - image 2 - student project

I used the palette to practice values and muted tones in mountains. I put in a bold red streak and then didn't like it, lifted much of it, overlaid yellow. Still not satisfied I went Dot Dot Dot, added tails and I like the fantasy effect. Prisma color pencils for outlining. Maybe mountains should be smaller as they recede but I like the fantasy appeal. I'll work on proportions in another painting. I saved primary hues for spice as you advised.

Northwest Coast Mist series - image 3 - student project

I practiced drawing Tongue Point and painting it with mist. Here is one I like but I feel like I should work a little more on the continuous land form on the right. Maybe add some faint trees in the mist to indicate it's all one piece? I like these hues and the mist and reflections. I learned alizarin crimson (in the sky) can be blotchy and might not blend easily on the paper. I'm unsure how to make mist on the water in the center or foreground. I reviewed your studio video where you work in acrylics on a big board but I don't get how to apply glazing in watercolor unless I use acrylic. I saw glazing in another lesson, forget which class. I think I'll not do it on this but I will try glazing on new practice piece to get a mist or fog.

Northwest Coast Mist series - image 4 - student project

I set the painting below aside for about a week. As you suggested I'm keeping practices small 4X6. I have a lot of details in this small piece. It's hard for me to simplify! Reference photo is below this example. I lifted blue grey Vancouver Island from both sides of the Tonngue Point island to make them appear distant but the cobalt is stuborn and they are too tall. Living with it on this one. I'm puzzled about the rocky bluffs and the grey sand bar across the lower part. I've started the dark cut bank and I think I can progress OK. Should I spatter the sand bar or rocky bank? This is a very small painting to spatter in tiny areas. How do I make ripples in the creek on the lowest part? Salt Creek in foreground flows into the bay and varies with tidal changes. I have a long way to go on this picture and that's fine. Any advice on it in partcular will be heeded with pleasure. I like limiting myself to this palette you recommended for northwest coast. Moody. I need to add trees at top. This one is not so misty and I'm not working on mist as much as hues and depth. I don't see the deep greens to said come from ultramaring and burnt umber. Do I use yellow under or over to greens? I'm really intrigued with the hues for NW coast painting. I remember when I lived on the Olympic Peninsula and it was mostly dark, grey, colorless, depressing, damp. But so beautiful.

Northwest Coast Mist series - image 5 - student project

Reference photo below.

Northwest Coast Mist series - image 6 - student project

Original post: I decided to stay with one lesson, mist, for a series. I'm just beginning. I need your sage advice, please, Ron. These scans are not exactly true to hue and value but pretty close. After following your video for the painting below I started composing from my experiences and imagination.

Northwest Coast Mist series - image 7 - student project

I used this inspiration from a tree I had drawn last year. Trees on the Olympic Peninsula get wind blown to shapes like that on the right.

Northwest Coast Mist series - image 8 - student project

It looks out of proportion in my effort below. I I like the dark and brilliant hues but I feel like I need more variation in values. I used Indian Yellow and I really like that hue. I think this is one I can work on several more times. Maybe I'll leave the tent out but I wanted to put in a human element. I might be starting a forest fire. I'm using 4X6 Arches papers, maybe the size affects my drawing, trying to squeeze it all in. I could use half sheets instead of quarters.

Northwest Coast Mist series - image 9 - student project

Then I referenced this prismacolor sketch I made last fall on a trip to the Olympic Peninsula. I was looking for mist coming off the coast onto the beach and up the mountain as I so often saw when I lived there. Beach sand is black basalt. But . . . the bluff is granite from the Canadian Shield transported by glaciation. Beaches along the Strait of Juan de Fuca often have both types of rock and sediment because of the geology of the two continental plates. I put in the kayak for fun and the commonly seen seal on a rock. They, too, feel out of proportion, along with the bluff that seems cut off with the mist. I feel like I need to stop painting and just draw the scene many times over until I get it in better shape, then transfer it to at least half sheet size and start paining. Any advice I will appreciate and practice! Prismacolor sketch below.

Northwest Coast Mist series - image 10 - student project

Watercolor beginning below.

Northwest Coast Mist series - image 11 - student project

This feels flat and one dimensional, especially the bluf and beach with log and rocks on shore. You're right, paintings do look better from a distance instead of up close. Give me some tips, please. I didn't paint for 4-6 weeks and I'm out of practice. Thanks, Ron.

Kay Addington MacDonald

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