I dove straight into the water today (hehe). I decided that to make the colors change more gradually on the sides since the sun is in the middle. Then, I could paint the middle portion a little darker to make the water look more realistic. I think by varying the colors of the water, it will, in a sense, give it more movement and life because it won't just be one block of colorful stripes. So, I painted more of the magenta on the two sides and then slowly mixed in more purple. As you can see, I had some issues with painting evenly. I continued to paint my layers really thin, which is why the paint sorta looks like Sharpie that has bled through. I think that I was using too much retarder and so when I painted, I would actually be taking away paint and somehow creating splotches. As result, the paint layers were uneven and it became hard for me to blend everything together. I'm panicking a little because I'm not sure how I will be able to fix it, but my plan is to just paint over it tomorrow with more caution.