From the Artist: I painted this from a picture of maple trees, taken just outside my house. I had some difficulties deciding how much detail I should put into it, but I tried to make out some of the details in the foreground and painted the rest of the picture in a blur (except some of the trees).
From the Painting Guide: How much detail you include does depend to a large extent on the style of painting you're doing. At the one extreme is photorealism, where every little leaf is painted meticulously, and at the other an expressionist or abstraction where the essence of the scene is painted. In between there's a lot of scope for choice, and that's part of the excitement and challenge of painting!
I think you've got an appealing balance here between detail and a sense of the landscape. I might have put a little more on the path in the foreground, to bring it to the level of detail as in the tree on the right and the grassy area in front of it. I like the sense of foliage and autumn colors in the background. To me a crucial part of a successful painting is to leave something for the viewer's mind to interpret, to give enough clues but not all the detail. I think you've done that here.
Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
Composition: Look at how the placement of the trees and path lead your eye into the painting, but also how the tree in the foreground on the right wants to dominate the composition; I found my eye kept coming back to it. It's beautifully painted, with a strong sense of the texture of the bark and the delicate use of tone gives a great sense of the natural forms.
I'm not convinced by the tiny bunch of dark leaves peeping in on the left-hand edge. I find this a bit distracting, both because it's such a dark tone and because it makes me wonder what it's attached to. I would leave it off. Also, take another look at the tops of the branches on the tree on the left. A couple taper off a bit rapidly, and one ends rather abruptly.
From the Painting Guide: How much detail you include does depend to a large extent on the style of painting you're doing. At the one extreme is photorealism, where every little leaf is painted meticulously, and at the other an expressionist or abstraction where the essence of the scene is painted. In between there's a lot of scope for choice, and that's part of the excitement and challenge of painting!
I think you've got an appealing balance here between detail and a sense of the landscape. I might have put a little more on the path in the foreground, to bring it to the level of detail as in the tree on the right and the grassy area in front of it. I like the sense of foliage and autumn colors in the background. To me a crucial part of a successful painting is to leave something for the viewer's mind to interpret, to give enough clues but not all the detail. I think you've done that here.
Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
Composition: Look at how the placement of the trees and path lead your eye into the painting, but also how the tree in the foreground on the right wants to dominate the composition; I found my eye kept coming back to it. It's beautifully painted, with a strong sense of the texture of the bark and the delicate use of tone gives a great sense of the natural forms.
I'm not convinced by the tiny bunch of dark leaves peeping in on the left-hand edge. I find this a bit distracting, both because it's such a dark tone and because it makes me wonder what it's attached to. I would leave it off. Also, take another look at the tops of the branches on the tree on the left. A couple taper off a bit rapidly, and one ends rather abruptly.