Frustration

I am supposed to be working on my sculpture, but these pastels keep calling to me. I thought I'd try another landscape in a larger size, 9X12. I wanted to see if I could apply what I had learned to something larger and to a landscape. Once again I selected a photo that seemed simple enough to me, only to find it is not so simple. The reference for this painting came from the WetCanvas reference image library, by member Carlanna:

Simple, right? I am sure some of you are thinking "that is not simple at all" and some of you could knock out a painting of this in one afternoon. I thought I was one of you, haha!

The sketch/value study using NuPastel #305:

First layers of color, still feeling pretty confident:

After getting some constructive feedback I tried to make the clouds feel more airy by softening the edges and adding some sky color in. I will admit, I was beginning to feel defeated:

The next day I gave myself one hour to do what I could and then move on to something I could have success with. I also ordered some more pastels, which arrived yesterday, and I think I have enough lighter  colors that I could  do more with subtle gradations on this, when I feel inspired to work on it more.

There are things I like about it. I love my sky color, and the upward sweep of the clouds. To me I feel like I am looking up when I look at the top third of the painting. I left the bottoms of the clouds too sharp because my timer I had set for one hour went off and I was tired of working on it. It is hanging in the living room for now. It was good for me to do this, it was humbling and it made me realize, again, how much there is to learn.