In the June issue of The Artist, Paul Talbot-Greaves set readers the challenge of painting from a phptograph with the aim of achieving contrast.

Of the reader versions sent in, Paul selected the work of Marilyn Comrie (see below) for critique saying: 'Thank you for taking part in the challenge Marilyn. In terms of colour, you have some great variety going on, which generates interest but hold off using so much white in the mixes. It’s fine to use a little (sometimes in a background) but watercolour differs to other mediums in that colours are made paler by adding water instead of white. Looking at your values, you’ve achieved a lot of light and mid, which set off that yellow-green foreground really well. You would really make a big impact with mid darks and darks though. Don’t shy from including them – just make sure you use more paint to water ratio and concentrate on blocking in the shapes.'

Of the challenge Marilyn said: ''For the foreground I used lemon yellow, white and a little sap green. For the far distant hills I used sap green with a little cobalt blue and a lot of water. The middle/far right bushes are burnt sienna and the others are sap green, lemon yellow with either raw umber or white. the conifers are sap green and black highlighted with lemon yellow and white. The trees, middle right, are mainly lemon yellow and white with a little sap green.'

You can see all of the reader versions of Paul's challenges in the PaintersOnline gallery by clicking here.

More challenges from Paul continue in the July issue of The Artist - click here to purchase your copy.