Waves at Clogher beach - gouache to the rescue

This time, I decided to zoom in on the dark rocks and crashing waves. But I struggled to achieve the soft effect I had managed with my first attempt. What did I exactly do that worked so well? I lifted the paint from the rock, but when I did that here, I wasn't getting that soft white effect, it was too brown. So is it because I used Transparent Red Oxide in my mix? Most likely.  I'm going to have to work on that. So, since I had nothing to lose, I explored what I could do with gouache. But is this a case of too much gouache? If you look at it from a distance, it looks nice enough, but up close, yes, too much gouache!