Three ways to get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice!

Right now I have my nose in various watercolor books, including both step-by-step to learn new techniques, and books of my favorite watercolor artists: Homer, Hopper, and Sargent. I want to learn to paint well with this medium not only for the enjoyment of painting, but to improve my illustration work. I've also been using a lot more references for my pieces to get that extra spark of life in the drawings. And of course I'm always collecting books of my favorite illustrators from the library to study their work as well. All this study though isn't as boring as it sounds---in fact seeing my work grow and striving to better my ability to capture the image in my mind's eye is very exciting. Even when I've been doing this for 20 or 30 years, I will still be studying and perfecting my craft--it's what keeps things interesting.

Now, don't be too hard on me, I have not done many still life paintings with watercolor.