Over The Wall by Tessa Gwynne

I think it’s worked out really well Tessa, I like the foreground in focus and the background colours faded. It certainly worth developing the technique more and it will be interesting to see the results.

It works well Tessa, great sense of distance here. I've found coloured pencil, including soluble, work well with gouache and watercolour. If I use a fineliner pen I sometimes have to rework some overpainted bits with the pen...unless I've used a dip-pen. It's well worth experimenting.

This has worked well, Tessa, lovely design element to the foreground.

Thank you Dixie, Lew and Jenny. The idea was to push back and fade the background and bring the wall and flowers forward. I have used water soluble pencils before and know you use the, quite often Lew with excellent results. The pen I am using is a Fude which doesn’t have waterproof ink (though I think you can get that) , but you can still use with other media, and sometimes the mix is useful.

I love this, the muted colours are beautiful.

I like the picture. I think you made the right decision to not use the pen on the cottage and barn etc, and the intensity of colour in the background elements is right. My only suggestion would be to make the hatching on the roofs a bit more consistent / less random. You have a highly stylised foreground and the house particularly looks a bit unfinished. Just a thought. 😊

Thank you Valerie. Thanks also Andrew: yes I see what you mean: food for thought. I might do some more to the roof area. 👍

The first plan, foreground objects (sorry don't know what it is Tessa), waking up my imagination to recognise them as kind off crowd of living creatures, gathered together, and gaze at that house .... Like if there was something of their interest... Very interesting painting Tessa!

Oooh yes I can see that as well, Art! It started off as a Cotswold stone wall but I wanted to keep it abstract. Actually after painting the wall in gouache, I left it for a few months , then came back to it this week and decided to complete it with pen, pencils etc. thanks for your comments. 😃

I like the experiment, it's different and interesting.

Many thanks Heather.

Love the emphasis on the foreground Tessa. A really interesting, unusual painting.

This is a great style Tessa, I love the foreground wall and the way you have distanced the house, it works for me.

Thanks so much Carole and Fiona. The flowers were actually irises, but I took a little artistic license! I’m looking for another photo or subject to try again.

Very nice Tessa, I like the difference in style and techniques in this piece.

Thank you Spencer, glad you like it.

Lovely style Tessa.

Many thanks Denise.

A gorgeous piece, Tessa. Love the contrasting shapes, directional lines and atmospheric perspective. It's beautifully done.

First thought - wow, I like that. It’s the slightly abstract stones and the colours and then the eye moves on to the lovely little flowers. For me, perhaps the distance could be a bit less detailed, a blurring of some of the shapes. A great experiment.

Love the foreground Tessa but not so much the distance which is a bit stiff by comparison and in my view does not add to the piece

Thanks for your comments and suggestions Seok, Marjorie and Martin. Interesting to have differing views and I think it’s fascinating to understand how different people view the same picture. Thank you, more food for thought!