I Know Better!

I actually do know better than to rest my hand on my painting without a paper towel underneath it.  But did I do that today?  Nooooo.  And the result is this indelible brown splotch on the cactus.

Which leaves me with a problem.  Since I'm using nearly all transparent colors, if I paint over the splotch with an opaque one it will look different even if I manage to match the color to the greens beneath it.  I tried scraping the paint off with the tip of an X-acto knife, but with no avail.  And I actually may have made the situation worse if I damaged the surface of the paper.

So on the heels of that defeat, I decided to add more detail to the thick branches.  Hence, the darker part on the right side of the upper branch.  I'm not sure whether or not this darker color is justified, but I am now committed.

I really like this primarily transparent technique.  And the acrylic allows for building up the color with essentially unlimited washes.  And I think it's a fit for the style I seem to be developing which is highly decorative and not so realistic.  But it may require more planning than I've been willing to do so far as it's purely light to dark.