There are a couple of ways to get colour gradients. Both were employed by the masters back when ….. One is graduated layering of different shades of veneers as you are doing here. The other is sand shading. I pick my veneers for the substantially different tones and use shading for the more subtle gradients. That is, of course, a huge over-simplification but you get the idea. Just don’t get all caught up and forget the sand shading aspect. Both techniques have their place.

The early bird gets the worm but its the second mouse that gets the cheese.