Relaxing Under a Palm in Puerto Rico

I did this last month when I was on the beach at Puerto Rico, but didn't ever finish it.  I could fuss with it a little more, especially the sand, but decided to leave it as is.

Color Challenge

Here's another fun challenge.  Make a painting in which everything is the complement of the local color.  So, green is red and blue is orange.  It was harder than I thought it would be, but I like the result.  Yes, the colors are that intense...and they were in the image I was using:

I felt the blue would interpret better as a "new gamboge" yellow than a true orange.  It is something I will try again.

Class Challenge

Last week, in my watercolor class taught by David Daniels, we got a challenge.  The challenge was to work from a sheet of black and white photos and make a painting.  We could use one of the photos, or several...or, of course, not do it at all.  This is my composition.  It is 7 1/2 inches by 22 inches.  I'm not sure what the animal crawling on the rocks is....any suggestions for improvement are welcome.

My plan is to mount it on a rice paper scroll rather than framing it.

Below  is a photo of the handout I used as inspiration.