by Joyce Washor

Untitled Oil, 27 3/5 x 19 7/10.

The different components of the painting are rendered very well. However, the artist may want to consider altering the composition. The stream leads the viewer’s eye out of the picture before there is an opportunity to explore the background. The buildings are also stacked one behind the other—it would be more effective to stagger the buildings throughout the composition. I would suggest referring to Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting or Edgar Payne’s Composition of Outdoor Painting for more advice on designing a painting.

About the Critic
Joyce Washor graduated from Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and also studied at the Woodstock School of Art, in Woodstock, New York. The author of Big Art, Small Canvas (North Light Books, Cincinnati, Ohio), Washor teaches at the Scottsdale Artists' School, in Arizona, and the Woodstock School of Art. She is represented by Horizon Fine Art, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming; The Crane Collection, in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts; and The Lawrence Gallery, in Scottsdale, Arizona. For more information, visit www.joycewashor.com and http://JoyceWashorsDailyPaintings.blogspot.com.

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