Sketches, with a little help

I'm working on a commission for a series of garden paintings, based on some photos I was given. The sketches are 5X7, half the size the final versions will be. They're all being done on one sheet for now and I've finished the first two. Then tonight, we had a small visitor who, in addition to watching The Wizard of Oz for the zillionth time (she even has the witch's lines down), was curious about my painting. So, we sat down and got out my drawing pad. She obviously took to it like a pro! When her parents came back from dinner, Amara had two paintings to take home... cuz, "there's no place like home, there's no place like home..."

Slow Sail

I decided to do the larger image first. But even so, you will notice the magnifying glass that came in handy for some details. The original photo and my smaller sketch were good references. I laid in the sky and much of the water first, since they should have a similar color and tone, but very different textures. I was quite pleased with how the sky came out; when you do wet-on-wet painting, sometimes you have happy accidents and, well, sometimes you get other results. I also used a limited palette since I have no idea what the real colors were. Thanks for looking!