Believe it or not, I haven't given this up...

...just yet. I figured I wouldn't be able to proceed any more with this less high-lighted cloudy scene with geometric shapes in.

So, I decided to go back to basic plain painting. If it doesn't work I would give up. But just wanted to give a last chance.

Painting near Lake Wenatchee Again

I went to Lake Wenatchee again today. This time I rode around upper Little Wenatchee River and Fish Lake, but set up my easel on the bridge over Wenatchee River, just starting off from Lake Wenatchee.

Clouds were thick at the beginning then Sun started peeking through, and it was sunny at the end. So the light changes fooled me and, as the result, the part of brush where sun light didn't directly hit was too light, losing contrast with the directly-lit part. Background forest's value is about right. Just doesn't have enough contrast between the top part and the bottom part, which was quite dark.

Even when I was painting, I didn't like the color of river water. I should have spent more time to get proper colors/values.

painting near Lake Wenatchee

Today I woke up a little earlier and went over the mountains to paint since I thought I might have a good chance to have sunshine over there. I was only half right.
It was clouded and the sun was struggling to come out. But regardless I set up my easel when I found a creek in a swampy area leading toward the mountains.
I felt (actually they were) the backdrop mountain colors were too light. I should have made the midrange green more darker.

Worked on the shapes at the focal point

I worked on the focal point shapes in the middle of this painting so that I can work around the area gradually toward the edges. However, I'm still not satisfied what I got here. I'll work the area a little longer before move on to the surrounding areas.