From the Artist: This painting is my first submission and the first painting I have completed in 15 years. It is from a photo I took almost 10 years ago that I love. My family and I have spent a lot of vacation time in the Appalachian Mountains. I always want to climb inside this picture and the painting doesn't do the photo justice.
The smokiness of the mountains was especially hard to achieve. I don't think it's hideous for the first attempt in 15 years but I can see a lot of room for improvement.
From the Painting Guide: Celebrate the fact you've picked up your brushes again and be patient with yourself. This painting may not do the landscape justice to your satisfaction, but the fact it was painted at all makes it very worthwhile. Use it and your love of this location as a starting point, create a series (like Monet did so beautifully), trying something different in each.
I think the main problem is the large area of intense dark in the foreground which dominates the composition too strongly. It's hard to get past this into what's going on in the rest of the painting, where the colors and tones are more delicate. If this were my painting I'd consider cutting off much of the foreground and lightening the tone of the front hills (something like this).
The smokiness of the mountains was especially hard to achieve. I don't think it's hideous for the first attempt in 15 years but I can see a lot of room for improvement.
From the Painting Guide: Celebrate the fact you've picked up your brushes again and be patient with yourself. This painting may not do the landscape justice to your satisfaction, but the fact it was painted at all makes it very worthwhile. Use it and your love of this location as a starting point, create a series (like Monet did so beautifully), trying something different in each.
I think the main problem is the large area of intense dark in the foreground which dominates the composition too strongly. It's hard to get past this into what's going on in the rest of the painting, where the colors and tones are more delicate. If this were my painting I'd consider cutting off much of the foreground and lightening the tone of the front hills (something like this).