You’re having a terrible time because of your surface. Paper makes the biggest difference in my experience, glad you’re getting some proper paper. When you want to upgrade again, look into cotton paper- the difference is night and day.
I mentioned in another comment- I used a liquid masking fluid to cover the 2 smaller birds, the broom head, and the radio. Really helps with clean even washes when you can ignore those inconvenient areas and lay down some paint freely.
Yeah thank you so much. A lot of thought went into the textures on the coat actually. I know they use a couple different methods for their art, it’s all absolutely beautiful. One day I might mess around with gouache, I believe it’s what they primarily use.