Practicing My Watercolor Color Mixing

I'm struggling with getting my watercolors to mix and blend together smoothly, so I decided to practice. The leaves started to come along nicely with a few washes. The bottom squares, however, did not go very well. I tried a new wet-on-wet technique of painting a strip of the top color, a strip of the bottom color, and then a middle strip of clear water to blend the two together.

Love Lemon Painting

For a watercolor homework assignment, I painted one of our love lemons on a 4"x6" piece of paper. I call them "love lemons"because the lemon tree they grow on was part of our wedding ceremony. We're both horticulturists, what can I say.

The lemon didn't turn out too bad, but for some reason my brain cannot wrap itself around the concept of a smooth wash for the background. I feel that the big splotch above the lemon just stands out and I don't even know how I did it. Maybe too much water there?

Watercolor Leaves

Being a horticulturalist, I love leaves of all shapes and sizes! So to practice my watercolor mixing, I decided to paint a few. I watched a YouTube video (How to Paint a Watercolor) for some inspiration. While the results aren't exactly the same, I'm slowly getting the hang of mixing colors with a wet-on-wet technique and splattering clear water.

My Desk Plant's Leaf

My poor desk plant lost a leaf today, so instead of just throwing it away, I attempted to paint it with my watercolors. The end result wasn't an exact replica, but it has the general essence.