Little Bowden

Love the way you have captured the light and contrast of warm against cool colours could the foreground shadow be stronger to push things back a bit? It is the same tone back to front. Sorry an amateur commenting again but am interested in learning

I think you are right Alan - the shadows are not all that convincing which is one of the reasons why this isn't one of my favourites. Also the penwork in the shadows could be strengthened a little and I might deal with this. I have offered to donate the painting for a raffle and they are really delighted so must be careful not t to alter it so that it looks too different to the image on their literature. But hey - we are all amateurs and I do appreciate your constructive comment

Still a zingy pen and wash. Interesting about web sales. My own, www.alanconner.co.uk is just now up and running. You never know!

I quite like this watercolour Michael, with or without stronger shadows. The warm tones are lovely and it has got very calming atmosphere. Isn't it great that your work is appreciated!

Sad to say I have very little success with my own website and have almost given up on it - all to do with optimising - nearly all my sales via the web come from where I piggy back on to other sites - the most successful for me is Leicestershire Villages which has given me a lot of support and free advertising and has quite a high profile, certainly here in the county.

Lovely scene with great sunlight and shadow.

Love this work Michael don't know if you actually used pen and watercolour it gives the impression you did and it looks great anyway, as far as website to market work go I am looking at that option myself and it is interesting to see comments here supporting the fact that it is still all about marketing even when a web site is up and running, if we can't get enough people to visit the site it might as well not be there, it is after all people viewing the different paintings that matters, so it is clear that sites can work as long as there is enough marketing of the site out there to get people to check I out, there are so many websites advertising so many different things these days it can obviously be difficult to get our sites seen, it seems to be people who do something a little bit extra to boost their websites that have the most success, I guess you were lucky Michael that your local diocese as you say picked up on the fact you had this lovely and apt local scene that was just what they needed for their brochure, local scenes should always do well in our own various local areas, there are probably always going to be people interested in memories of interesting local views that they can take away with them, and your comment about the Leicestershire Villages seems to support that Michael

Hi Michael, not one of my favourites, but that's not the issue, it all in the eye of the beholder and how it connects with them. I have found in the past that those paintings that I didn't like much always seem to connect with others and vice the versa, those that I did like stayed in the shop for months. With regards to the issue of web sites, I don't have one myself and wouldn't know how to go about getting one. I agree with Ros, it's all about that little bit extra, some one told me that its about the search codes and recognition wording on the Internet. I think I will have to push my son, who has promised to build me one for years, but never seems to have the time. Would love it if people asked to buy my work.

Another lovely line and wash in your village series. Never easy to know how much pen to use, I think it works better on buildings than with foliage.

My web site was set up using CLIKPIC who advertise in the Artist. As web illiterate it was easy and I can recommend it. £75 for two years with personal Domain Name. Not a commercial venture but friends who looked at it have bought three paintings so it has paid its way.

This caught my eye Michael. So very crisp and nicely done.

Congratulations, Michael, what a nice feeling it must give you! I like the ?slate roof on the porch and the colour mix on the stones on top of the wall on the left. And a great sky. Alan Conner's been helping me with warms and cools and this is a good example, thank you!

Thanks to you all for taking the time to comment. Back to your own web site I think you have to consider what purpose a personal site will serve. You can't expect many hits if you don't put in a lot of effort to raise its ranking. Unless you already know my site address it is doubtful if you will stumble across it - it is well down the Google rankings I'm no techy and just want to paint - for me the benefit is that I can point prospective customers in its direction which has helped and just as importantly it gives them a degree of confidence - 'He has his own website so he must be good !!! '

Clean and crisp as always Michael, just as watercolours should be. Thumbs up from me.

Very bold and light filled scene. It has a very attractive clean cut look and I think it will make a perfect eye catching image to attract attention on the front of the brochure. I can see why they want it and I'm sure it will look marvellous.

Fresh and light, congratulations on this request, I hope they give you a large credit :)

Just look at the way Michael has handled the windows, dark at the top and light at the bottom. So effective.

Re having own websites to sell paintings: met a photographer this weekend who sells photos worldwide this way, he suggests putting paintings/photos thru a wee program which puts a watermark on them, to prevent people using them without paying...a thought perhaps

Thanks to you all - pleased to say this is now sold.