Need criticism and advice on painting

[eternal raft]

It has been a year I am painting with watercolors (I am very inconsistent). But I still suck 😭 my paintings still look very flat and something feels wrong. I am trying to learn color theory, shading, light and values. But whatever I do. It still looks lifeless. Can someone give me criticism on this painting? The flaws and what areas I need to fix? I know my painting is off but I can't tell what.

Thank you.

[polar elbow]

i think you should push the depth of it, maybe try making the fruit at the back slightly darker

i think the actual colouring of the fruit is really good

i pushed cooler shadows in this as well to help add some depth to the vibrancy of the fruit

[quasi sedge]

i noticed you use pillow shading on this piece (dark edges, light center)
try a more consistent light source with hard light and prominent shadows – that will help you get a feel of the shape of the fruits and the bowl (find references with hard light and paint them)
also, do use do a pencil sketch? the bowl shape is slightly off

[quasi sedge]

here's how I would tweak it

i fixed the bowl shape, added cool shadows, warm light, and bounce light, and added more shadows in between grapes

[eternal raft]

Thank you so muchh for the advice! I find it a bit hard to understand where light is coming from and how I should do the shading. And I do use pencil sketch, I just lost my water control and ruined it 😭

[eternal raft]

it looks so much better! Thanks a lot again to help me understand where I am lacking!

[quasi sedge]

you're welcome! I'd advise painting separate pieces in b&w first to better understand values and then moving on to coloured pieces