Amphitheater Lake in Grand Teton NP is in an alpine environment. This was painter during my Murie Center "Landscapes Matters" gathering in 2006 in Grand Teton NP. During my latest, move I discovered it and does it bring memories flooding back.
Painters while they are painting a scene, worry that if a painting they make isn't perfect, its "not good."
But perfection is not what matters-what matters is that it was painted in the moment and the moment returns. Every viewer brings their "moment" to the painting as well. Paintings are like great friends who remind us of who we are.

This oil took time to evolve. The color was not right-too warm, too cool in the rocks and the sky was a separate painting.
Give yourself honest feedback in terms that can be adjusted with painting.
Wondering if you like the painting? Give it up. A great painting is not about you. It is a story and tell it with clarity-there is a right color and a right value and a repeat of color, and consistent shadow pattern. I do not break the rules, I use them, over and over for great paintings.

Here are the colors of fall-late fall. Blue and yellow/ochre sing together and symbolize a season.
When you see a green tree and green grass and the actual color which it is up close to you, remember that this is only part of what you "see".
Organize color to give wholeness and a clear story to your art. Just because you see isolated objects/trees does not mean it is a good story.

Here is the same picture:
One has the midtones-the colors that we first see.
The second picture has the darks and lights that we also see. Which one do you like?

Here is a high country cabin in Colorado. Summer colors are saturated so painters remember that you can use the paint straight from the tube. Keep you whites out of the paint! Add white to sky colors only. Richness is great and one cannot be too rich! Let the color describe a mood.

Howe Farm in the spring and summer. This is painted with a high center of interest thus making the field very important but is it distracting from the farm buildings?
It would only be so, if there are too many darks in the field. Keep your darkest darks and lightest lights in either the foreground, middle ground or background when composing a landscape.
What painter put the darks in the background of a landscape??
Maynard Dixon, one of America's greatest painters!

Here are the Green Mountains that I love to paint. The abundance of flowers is what I feel and smell and sense-I paint more that I can see!
Students ask me if I "make it all up"?
Its a valid question. is there an answer to creativity, or a basis, or even a reason?
I respond that I teach techniques and how to apply paint, but they create. There is no one definitive book about good design and I doubt there will be one on creativity! Feast with your heart!