Congrats for your third place, Marina!

Congrats!!

Congrats!

Oh, yes! This is gorgeous! A couple of things, tho. (Isn't there always?) Wouldn't the wheat shaft be lit by the sun and obscure the birds wing? Right now, it kind of looks like the bird is closer than the wheat. Also, your second link isn't working. When I click on it, it takes me to the "Oops! Nothing to see here." page.

yes your right... the bird should be blured. and i will fix the link

high score... nice work

thank you Eladine...must be the kitty

I love the warm colours, the serenity and I dont know how to describe it but Im blaming the kitty indeed lol , a sense of instinct and danger combined.

lol

Really lovely! Is the kitty hiding or is she praying on the bird?

I think stocking something other than the bird.

Thank you... and how very true! I'm usually aware of such things, guess I got excited in the process. Lol

Congrats, oziipop! I hope you continue to get excited with the process, if this is the kind of entries we can expect when you do.

Lol thank you so much. I find the contest to be a whole lot'a fun!!

congratulations

Nice Job Congrats

thanx chuck

The yellow glow does not work in front of the trees, and the colored lights are showing through the house. They are also too blurred for the image, as the outline of the tree tops is in sharp focus. This is a cute concept, but the execution needs work.

Lol ok

Ohh that's snow in front of the house

thank you Mossy... i think it looks much better now

why do and exact replica of a photo ? No creativity , That is why I do not like the use of close replication in digital art. If you use a source photo it should not end up looking like the source with a few little added bits . Your work is good but what did you really achive ?

I did this for you, to show how do do it right. Take a close look at it, it does not look like a photo at all and it is also different in many ways. All the painting steps is here in progress not just suddenly appearing.
And besides I had no qualms with your work , i just wondered why you would do an exact copy . This is NOT exact..

jubjubee the drawing grid has been around for centuries.. it's one of the oldest forms of teaching in existence when it comes to visual art (In fact, in many communities it was the norm) wonderful job author.. good luck

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/252/draughtsmanbc0.jpg/

Combining the old with the new is NOT a negative, if anything, it is a joy to see the old mixed with the new

I think this is a lovely picture, showing beautiful interpretation of the source, without being a hyper-realistic copy. I particularly enjoy the boats along the bottom. Very well done!

oh my god....it's so....purrrrfect. You made miracle

I'm not against the use of close reference but still appreciate more an alternative interpretation of the reference. Indeed, your skill is really good, the result is fantastic and I don't think your work looks like a photo. The only question is why did you choose this approach if your work will be removed for sure...

For me, this kind of entry is equivalent to setting up an easel and painting in a realistic way. Like Slushy said, using an art grid is just another tool to accomplish the goal of realism. I think this is a beautiful example of using an art grid to paint what you see.
Having said that, I like the addition of the boats, but (and this is just a personal preference) I think I would try making the sky and water a bit darker to help make the lights pop. This is a wonderful entry.

Langstrum ,it was removed , I had to add the boats to make it a not '' so close '' look. but this is not a paint over or a photo changed a bit to look like a painting, the painting steps are all there so why should it be removed ?

If by adding the boats, your reference is no longer considered as a close reference, then I feel happy for you. As I understand, the rule just mentions the use of close reference, so I'm not sure that your entry is safe now or not. Close reference is prohibited because there is no proof to say that an author didn't do tracing (I know you didn't). But I hope that you won't get any more problem. Good luck, author

This is close to the reference image and yes it was removed in it's original form but the author made enough alterations to be acceptable. It's not unusual for an artist to be inspired by an image whether it's painted from life or based on a lovely photo as this was. The workmanship is excellent in my opinion and I do agree with IDt8r who we all know is a talented artist as well. Perhaps others would have had a different take on the image but I see this as a fine study of an elegant subject and respect how the author interpreted the subject matter.
@Langstrum... I do appreciate your point of view and I can definitely state this was not traced, using the grid system will give you a very close approximation of the image used and I can tell the difference I promise you. As I said we all have our own ideas in what we create they wouldn't necessarily be right or wrong...just different.

Thanks for the feed back all of you, if you check my work here you can see I rarely do close work like this one . But this was really to show how to do a work with out being a exact copy. this clearly has a painted look which is why I used painter instead of ps.
Langstrum if you feel this is close then look at your last entry ' 'FLY ME TO THE MOON '' That is also a very close reference to your source photo . So I don't think I should have a problem here.

Let's not get argumentative here, in all fairness to langstrum his entry you mentioned is an original composition and not a copy of any one particular source. Your entry while acceptable is very close to the original image and composition and dependent on that and not a composition you originated. The decision of acceptability required some deliberation as it is very close to the source and you should accept the fact that some may not agree with that, as is their right.

Congrats on your win

Congratulations too for the first place!

this is just amazing, congratulations, well deserved

Congrats!!

Congrats Glockman, wonderful work

Thanks to all, much appreciated .

Me, too! Congrats on first with a beautiful entry. And thank you, too, for showing budding artists out there how an art grid works. I know that your ability is way beyond an art grid and taking the time to do it this way was very generous of you. (Now go make a tutorial, "How to Use an Art Grid".)