New to oils, any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!

Sorry but I haven't a clue what it is that you are trying to portray, red paint running down a frame, I suppose that I am left wondering why?, but if that is what it is meant to portray it looks fine to me. I don't really understand the meaning behind it, but I expect that there is one hidden somewhere, not a lot of help I'm afraid.

I think that the blood at the top is too much of a huge block of colour. Perhaps break into that shape and make more delicate streams of it ( like the blood lines further down the frame.) . The frame and surround is very well painted with some fine detail but the canvas does need a background tint on it as the white is too stark. Just my opinion, I could be wrong!!! Please tell us what are your thoughts are behind this one? Should there be a reflection of a face in the mirror too ( now my imagination is setting in and there's no stopping me!!)? Best of luck Bontom Sarah

You're trying to make it look like blood, I take it - because it's realistic as red paint, being as how it's ...... red paint...... If you are trying to achieve the effect of blood, the weight of the ooze should be nearer the bottom - blood wouldn't form in layers; yours is a little static and thick; a highlight or two would help, indicated by almost white areas where the light would catch it, and the colour - I don't know what red that is, but (at the risk of making myself feel slightly sick) it's not scarlet enough for arterial blood, nor dark enough for venous blood: so neither in colour nor in texture is it quite convincing me that it's blood. But then, you're not alone in this - it's not (as even a cursory glance at any old master painting in which they tried to indicate the flowing of blood would show) anything like as easy to paint as you would think. On the one occasion I tried, many years ago, I used cadmium red: my father, who had been through the second world war, said real blood didn't look like that - but I think I'll spare everyone further details. I think you need to study pictures of flowing blood if you want to paint it - quite where you're going to find them, even in this gory age, I don't know; but much as I applaud the spirit of experiment, don't open your own wrists to see how it trickles - or anyone else's, obviously.... one can go too far.

Ah well - then we have a different problem entirely, and all because some of us couldn't see what you were trying to do and assumed we could and got it wrong. Well there we are. The snag is that we can't readily enter your mind and work out what you really want to do - and that it makes somewhat less sense (to me anyway) if it's NOT supposed to be blood. To be honest, we need a lot more information here - like, to start with: how did you achieve that frame? Is it painted, photographed, is it an actual object around which you've painted detail? I'm not sure I need to know why you wanted to produce this painting - that's your vision and your business - but if you're trying to contrast one element with another, it's just hard to guess that from the information given. If you're just (just!) trying to depict flowing paint, contrasting the looseness against the formality of the frame, I would still suggest that the actual flow isn't obvious and I suggest you indicate the highlights you will see on moving, fluid substances - difficult thought that is, it would help suggest movement; as it stands (which is actually what it IS doing) the paint doesn't look as if it's flowing at all. To be honest, I wouldn't know where to go from the point you've reached - you've established a somewhat static flow, and in your place I'd leave this one as a first study, and move on to another. In the second one, I would use more fluid paint - breaking it down with medium and indicating its flow, thickening it in places, as in globules and dollops - show the flow by the weight of the paint descending over the canvas, give it shape and form. You've relied on pure colour - a touch of shading with a deeper red (say this was Cadmium Red, though I don't think it is, a mix of that red and green, or using Cad Red deep at the bottom of the flow, along the sides of the dribbling of paint, might help). Suggest the shadow - if you want a naturalistic appearance. But you don't actually need a naturalistic appearance, of course... so much here depends on what you wanted to actually do, and only you know that.

Whether it's blood or paint, I bet it won't flow - because that's not what paint is supposed to do. I wouldn't know how to make oil paint flow like that... household emulsion maybe.

Well BonTom, have we helped or hindered? It's not always easy to be quite sure.....