Water lacks depth, also slightly too blue.

Sorry Ben its rare that I criticise your CnC but its actually not an impressionistic piece its mearly using larger brush strokes in the background due to lack of detail your eye sees as as you get further away from an object. As you can see in the foreground there is actually quite a lot of realism just had to point that out.

Otherwise onto the piece I actually really like it, the light on the mountains was executed considerably well although the shadowed area of the mountains more to the right of your canvas seem a little week and should be given a much darker sense of belonging. The River as much as I hate agreeing with lancer does lack a little depth a few darker blues here and there and a bit of current shown would enhance its presence in the picture as I believe that it should be as important as the mountains in the background, I mean your foreground should lead your eye to the mid ground then the background so why detail it any less? Also the reflections are a little heavy on the river should pull that back slightly.

A part I particularly enjoyed that constantly gives me problems is the mist, I love how you've made it very thick but also very floaty. Over all its a nice piece just a little touch us here and there and you'll definitely see the improvements in your next piece. Good Job.

there'd better be more pthalo blue




also, yeah. lack of reflection kinda killed it. but still, its a happy little mistake.

Thanks for the comments, guys!

I did encounter a few problems in this painting, yes, mostly being the water, and that is because I am painting with bad oil paint on Masonite, rather than professional paints on canvas, which is what I will hopefully start doing around the end of this month or so.

The masonite was breaking up paint way too far apart, so it wasn't blending together like I really wanted. The water was supposed to be a lot more clear, and have a light spot towards the middle to help expose more reflections. My least favorite part of this painting was most likely the left middleground part, where those lines of trees are. My art teacher told me to add a form of perspective to the painting with trees going father into the background, and honestly, it got annoying because the paint just kept smearing the trees together.

My mountain didn't turn out simply because I was forced to paint this on masonite, rather than canvas. I payed my art teacher the routinely $40, and all he gets us is etching plates, which I hate, and masonite boards, which everyone who paints hates. I am the only person who does landscapes in my class, but I've gotten a few other people to try them simply because landscapes are beautiful forms of art, as well as very fun to make.

The fog is actually one of the most simple parts of the painting. That part on the bottom of the mountain where it gets misty is actually extremely simple to do. What I do, however, is finish off the mountain, grab an old 1 inch or 2 inch brush (usually 1 inch for this size, 18x24) and very lightly tap the very bottom of the mountain making sure to follow of the curvature of the mountain. After that, I just blend it together by blending in all those nice darker colors and etc., and presto, a good way to give the painting a feel of depth.

BenDover: Go watch some Bob Ross if you prefer oil painting landscapes like these, it really is a simple process if you get the hang of it and listen to him. Oh, and if you are looking into buying some paints and brushes, etc., I would really really encourage buying Bob Ross stuff. It's really nice, and easy to paint with if you get the hang of it. For beginners, I would probably prefer the type of paint I'm using, Winton oil paints.



oh, and about that light, that was the flash on my camera. Wasn't supposed to be a light source, etc.

I really enjoy it awesome