Lesson learned from making mistakes

The past two days have been busy here. Yesterday nothing was posted so I wanted to get something quickly done this afternoon. Quickness in watercolor is a must during certain steps but not for my entire process. It leads to many disappointments and lots of frustration. Thankfully today's trials lead me to a new discovery about my thought processes.

This painting was derived from a thumbnail I did of photos from Mt. Baldy looking toward Lake Michigan. Like the recent dunes studies I was trying to get a good map for a larger painting. The first step of this painting was getting all the shapes in there mid tones and leaving the large middle tree white because it stuck out in front of the rest. It was what drew me to do the sketch. The next step was putting in the fencing and darks among the trees. I messed up and got everything too wet which caused runs. Then to make matters worse I tried to soften the hard edges as they dried only to smear and lighten the entire mass. I took a step back and let it dry for a bit, then got to the dark tree trunks and branches. The trunks and branches didn't turn out that great. When that was done I didn't know what to do with the white trunk that I had painted over. I remembered that I had gouache so I got it out and put it on the palette. Gouache is opaque like oil and that got me interested and decided to go for it. What has kept me from using things like gouache in the past has been people telling me that some how it is inferior. It is in the same tune that I've always heard that you shouldn't add black or white to your watercolors or any other supposed rule.
Lately I've been using new methods and refining others. Sometimes it is easy to forget that what other people tell you in a field like art is nothing more than a personal preference. If you are trying to mimic or achieve similar results as someone else then you should listen as closely as possible, seeing as how there are guiding principles in art. But as far as I can tell there are no set rules. I constantly search for new artist online, in books, magazines, galleries, shows, and museums and it always amazes me how many possible styles and ways there are to do things. The amount of styles would equal the amount of artist if everyone took the time to explore and develop there own path.
Anyway I used gouche to take back the middle tree trunk and while it wasn't outstandingly successful it did give me the courage to use it in the sky and dunes which I liked. I also learned that by mixing the gouache with a watercolor you can tint it and get it closer to what you want. Now instead of looking down at gouache or any other medium for that matter, I see it as another way at getting the results you want. Will I always use gouache in my watercolors? Probably not, but it does open up new possibilities if I want the luminosity of watercolor and the opaque qualities that it can bring to the painting.