Castle Combe in Pastel Pencils - Student Feedback

Bryan has sent me his picture of Castle Combe and asked if I can give him a few tips on how he can improve the work. Bryan tells me he really enjoyed painting the picture and looks forward to doing another something similar in the future. This is a good representation of my original and Bryan should be proud of his efforts.The main point I would pick up on is that the trees and bushes need to be more defined. These are difficult subjects and it is worth practicing the techniques I show on the video, perhaps on spare paper. It is all too easy to have all the definition merge together as they have done here. What I would suggest Bryan works on is using a sharp 174 to pick out the stronger tones and once done leave it alone. This would improve the situation and make the trees and bushes more acceptable. The regular line of bushes on the left between the red lines need to be broken up as at the moment they look too regimental. The tufts of grass, black arrows, could be removed altogether as they again are a bit dull, I would replace them by bring the pathway up the blue line. It would help to reduce the size of the distant bushes as indicated by the yellow circle, at the same time these could be varied in shape. The water is a little weak and as it is right in the foreground it could do with being strengthened.I am sure these tips will help Bryan and I look forward to seeing more of his landscapes in the future. You can learn to paint this landscape using Pastel Pencils by joining my membership programme.