From the Painting Guide: Welcome to the world of oils – as many painters will testify, they're great fun to use!

There are several things that work for me in this painting, and others that don't. I like the varied positioning and angles of the tree trunks, and the way the one on the right goes off the edge. The one cropped off on the left edge is a bit too narrow (though this may be caused by cropping the photo). The white specks in the greenery under the trunks on the right-hand side reminds me of forests with lily-in-the-valley flowering in spring (though from what I remember that plant has much deeper green leaves). On the left the greenery is a bit too even in tone, which makes it flat. The vertical brush strokes in the greenery give a lovely sense of grasses/plants growing tall – do a quick sketch using horizontal brush strokes and you'll see what a different feeling it gives, how the greenery suddenly becomes low-cropped grass. I like the way the blue comes through the leaves of the trees – you obviously painted this before the trees. All to often a sky is painted 'around' the elements and suffers for it.