CLEAR SAMPAN by TONY JAMES GREEN

You are very brave Tony to ask for comments good or bad. Firstly I will say that I like the painting. The scenery is great. You have done the tones of the mountains as it should be, lighter in the distance. The one thing that I would modify is the size of the boat and I would take away the piece of land on the rigth front corner. Hope this helps you.

Thanks Beatrice for taking the time to comment on my painting.I do believe for me to improve does require good and bad comments,especially if the bad comments are as constructive as yours,but you are right when i look again at the painting your advice would of improved it.Many thanks Tony

I like the shapes of the mountains with their subtle green tones. It's always good to put something red in an overall green picture, as you've done here, but maybe the sampan is too far over to the right, so is drawing the eye out of the picture. I would have put it a bit further in - maybe a third of the way in. Also, I think you should consider re-painting its reflection so that it goes down vertically rather than on a sort of diagonal. The reflection of the sail to the right, in particular, is offset, where I think it should perfectly mirror the actual sail in a vertical plane. Also the reflections should be red, possibly even darker than the sampan itself, rather than fading to grey. I hope this is helpful!

Thanks for the comments Catherine,yes i do think that the painting would benefit with the sampan being moved now it has been been brought to my attention.I am still in a very early learning process of painting but very eager to learn. Thanks

Can I put forward another suggestion ! I don't think the painting needs the sampan. It's a little distracting to me. I would get rid of the sampan, thus removing the need for those reflections. Leave the rest as it is including the land in the foreground. Perhaps you could add some lighter receding horizontal brush strokes right across the water. Louise

P.S You'll have to re name it though !

Thanks for the comments Louise,the sampan was an after thought when i had finished the painting.The painting i thought was looking deprived of an interest,so i added the sampan. I do think that adding some brush strokes across the water as you say would improve the painting.Thanks

Another suggestion. Turn your painting on end and you will see that the reflection of the nearest hill doesn't match the shape of the hill. If you are doing shadows or reflections that are directly below an object, try turning your painting sideways when you sketch it in. It's much easier to change right to left than it is to turn something upside down. I like the inclusion of the sampan but would definitely bring it further into the painting.

Thanks for your advice Diana,it would make it easier as you say to turn a painting on its side to emulate an outline for shadows or reflections.I appreciate that you have taken the time to give your advice.Thanks