Watercolor Progression Continued

I have added new images to my watercolor progression post. To see them, go to the February 2011 post titled Watercolor Progression and scroll to the bottom. Here (in this post) are but a few of many sketches I have made for this painting. I'm in the thick of it now: I have to make many color decisions before I can move on. If I don't, I will lose the clarity. I like watercolor most when it is clean and not muddy. Today was a thinking and sketching day. There is the image in my memory, which has to be reconciled with the reference photos and what the painting needs.... To this end, in contrast to the slow pace of the large watercolor, these sketches are fast and intuitive.

Pardon the messy studio- no cleaning gets done when I'm this far into a painting!