Hi to All___Something new for me___I'm trying to make a photo/painting as close to an artist rendering on canvas. Comments?___MH

This is very nice Murray--I like it almost as well as I do your portraits (I really like those). The painted effect in the house and the flowers is very attractive.

While it doesn't detract from the image, if I were going to nitpick, I'd say that the trees still look just a little too photo-realistic. Also, while I like the image as it is, if you are going for a watercolor look, the colors are probably too vibrant (I like them that way though).

Murray - I agree with Photomauler...this just looks like a photo with a filter applied. It's not a particularly strong image to begin with (although I do like the color combinations) and as Cheryl mentioned, it still looks too much like a photo to be considered a painting.

The thing that makes your portraits so strong is that they do not look like "filter art" and they have very distinct and expressive personalities. With a non-human subject you need something else to maintain the viewer's interest...interesting subject, strong composition, etc... IMHO, this image has neither.

My suggestion would be to really narrow down what you want the image to say and then really paint...in other words, do not feel that you have to be constrained by the shapes and colors of the photo and just push the image until it really expresses what you want. Most artists, even those who work in a realistic style, only use photos as starting points.