notice how by adding a background starts to change up the appearance of the figure?  How the shades change in hue, how light and dark values play against each other.

I found some time to paint today, rainy day all day east coast. I was able to paint about an hour past this image. The background needs to be darker in sections and a long way to go, but I really like the environment starting to develop. Remember watercolor is about layers especially realism.

If you notice the header has the same painting…..my first wc ever. Here I am painting it again some 2o plus years later.  Interesting to see skill and artistic concept.