Project Nine from Step-By-Step Guide to Painting Realistic Water Colors by Dawn McLeod Heim is Autumn Leaves. My plan was to get this one posted for Thanksgiving, but I kept thinking I could turn it around and the deadline came and went. I was completely deceived by this one. The first time I looked through the book I remember thinking it was strange that the easier one is left for the latter part. Boy, was I wrong. I didn’t have all the recommended palette (and have a self-imposed, I will NOT buy another tube of watercolor paint to satisfy another workshop/lesson; UNLESS, I feel it’s absolutely necessary). I “substituted” early and often, and it showed from beginning ’til the end. My exercise lacks the depth the example showed. I’m blaming it on the lacking palette. That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it.  Lesson learned. Just one more lesson in this book and then I’m off to tackle something else. I’m thinking … a little oil painting practice so I’ll be ready for those fields of bluebonnets in the spring.