Dunes Experiment

Experimenting with lessons from Jeanne Dobie's book, Making Color Sing.

I read this book about 20 years ago, I guess when it first came out, and remember it being one of the most instructive watercolor books I'd ever seen. The other day, I checked it out from the library again, and, after re-reading the whole thing, decided to go through the lessons with a watercolor pad one at a time.

At the beginning of the book she really emphasizes using transparent non-staining pigment (aureolin, rose madder genuine, cobalt blue, and viridian). I tried doing this in pretty much those colors alone, but have had trouble in that the underlying layers of paint lift off anytime I try to darken any of the passages. The horrible blue on the side of the little building was supposed to be a nice cool grey glaze, but it kept coming out whatever color I glazed on top. I never could get the grasses on the dunes right, and finally, in utter disgust, mixed in a little quin gold. I won't say this is the worst watercolor sketch I've ever done, just the worst I've ever let anyone see. My question is, what is the point of glazing with non-staining pigments if you aren't planning on lifting off, and how in the world do you keep it from lifting off when you work the subsequent passages???

AARGH!!!