When I'm in the "unhappy" phase with my art it's usually because there aren't enough values painted. Everything looks flat. Here's my cheat to add more contrast fast...

Sometimes the palette I choose just doesn't work the way I visualized. When an object's color doesn't interact in the way I want, I use Adjustment Layers and play...

I find using grass brushes makes things too uniform - nature is much more random. Combining techniques overcomes this regularity.

Painting shadows comes up with almost every piece of art I create. Lighting is critical to creating believable scenes and grounding objects.

I've painted lots of people with glasses. I found it easiest to paint the faces WITHOUT glasses first, then add them on a new layer. Same with lenses.

Another method for creating a "painted" surface (different from my Andy Warhol post). In this instance, I wanted to have the scene look like a painted canvas in a style similar to Frida Kahlo's paintings.

"Shiny stuff" appears in all sorts of places. Learning how it reacts with light and surfaces makes it fast & easy to paint these details convincingly.