[Ripelly]

Welcome to Finland



close up to the foreground

No reference, totaling about 8-10 hours of work.

Yeah, it could be more detailed here and there but go ahead and throw in comments & crits.

[xXxPZxXx]

I got depressed just looking at it =/

if thats how finland is I am very sorry. you sure did create the mood well. no crits from me

[Icannon]

awesome. i wouldn't call it depressing, tho it's very moody. i love how you did the tree's- the very vague differences in value between them. their tips all look quite alike, tho they could have been that way. again, i think it's great.

[Socar MYLES]

It's beautiful...just beautiful. I sat and stared and stared at it for ages. I'm moving to Sweden very soon, and this landscape reminds me very much of the place in the north of Sweden where I'll be going. Made me want to be there right now. It takes a hell of a convincing...and compelling...landscape to do that. I think it's the palette that makes me love this so much. I really like grays and cool tones, and you've done an excellent job with them here.

Usually I try to put a critique as well as a compliment, but I'm happy looking at this, and nothing jars me. I would see no reason to change a thing.

[Alexei Samokhin]

wow , when i saw this pic , i remember my onw village in russia ! awesome ! finland foreva :-)

[horstenpeter]

Man, I love Scandinavia (spelling ?). I wish I could be there. A friend of mine moved to Finland this year. Maybe I should go visit her.

Love this piece. Can't think of anything to critic, except maybe that everything seems so centered. But that's really just minor.

[Twice]

awsome....just awsome... this is very moody. Since Norway is not to far from finland the landscapes are pretty simmilar. Every now and then I take a trip up on the moutaint where I live, and this reminds me a lot of a place near this mountain. Just beautiful...

hmm..... the other day I read in a book that if you divide the number of lakes in finland with the amunt of people living there, you get 27. thats a lot of lakes..... (i'll shutt up now and keep my stupid thoughts for my self)

[eyewoo]

Very nice moody picture. I liked the detail... it was a picture in itself with it's own merits.

My crit is really just a suggestion. I'd like to see the background foggy mountains brought up just a tiny bit so that they are just a tiny bit more there...

Great picture...

[luggage]

Abolutly wonderful

Reminds me of my military service in �stersund (East Strait ?), Sweden...

Tho I do agree that its difficult to see if there are mountains in the distance or if the clouds of the overcast decends into the valley.
Not that it really affects the impression of the picture

// L

[balistic]

Nice. Ideally, I'd like to see something in the extreme foreground, but otherwise I like it . . . reminds me of parts of northern California.

[Steven Stahlberg]

Wow, everybody's reminded of something here... and me too. I'm reminded of my childhood's winters in central Sweden, the distant cawing of crows, stepping in shallow puddles to crack the ice, crunch, crunch... (Well I'm allowed to get a little homesick not having stepped in any frozen puddles in over 10 years...)
I just love the ice you painted, incredible. Everything, but especially the ice. No reference? wow...

[Ripelly]

xXxPZxXx: Well I kind of aimed that the viewer would feel the depression kicking in when looking at the landscape so, I guess I succeeded in that. Thanks for bringing this up.

Icannon: I thought the trees would get the most critics since I rushed them a bit, but... Thanks.

Socar: Thanks, I really appreciate your thoughts. Heh, actually, I didn't mean it to be beautiful at all... and I can't figure out why anyone would like to come to Scandinavia in November.

Alexei: Thanks, I guess this scenery could be from Russia, too.

horstenpeter: Yes, I'm aware of the composition and I wanted to do it that way... but hey, I definitely wouldn't recommend Finland to anyone, at least in the darkest month of the year (yep, November). Thx.

andskj: True, we have lots of lakes. In fact,
if you pick a random spot on the map and it isn't a lake, it's forest... unless someone has cut it down. Thx.

fleab: Mountains, um... whe haven't got mountains... but... a-ha, I see it now. Got to fix that. Thanks for pointing that out!

luggage: hehheh, now everybody sees the "mountains". I'll go fix the sky asap. Thanks.

[Jezebel]

This is so beautiful. It feels so cold and calm... I can just picture standing there and hearing nothing but the wind in the trees and distant bird calls.

...As I sit here listening to 18-wheelers zoom past my living room window. :P

*sighs dreamily*

[Awetopsy]

the exact words that came out of my mouth were "Oh... Nice!!!"

I like it.

[Ripelly]

uh... hard to keep it up..

balistic: Thanks. Hmm.. must be the "mountains" again that makes you think California..

Steven: Heh... I had an idea that the ice in the foreground would be broken and some muddy water smudged the surface, but decided to keep the ice intact. Thanks for the thoughts.

Jezebel: In fact, if you stood there you shouldn't be hearing any sounds but the birds' ugly cawing. There's no wind. Thanks.

Awetopsy: Heh, thanks.

[Leo]

Bravo! Very, very nice and moody painting. Good color choice. In fact we've the same weather here... grey sky, snow here and there, some birds etc.
The only thing I would suggest - define a bit more details and colors for the foreground forest to keep away from it's flatness. Anyway thanks for great painting! Very inspiring...

-leo

[Dthind]

Very well done, and wow does it look cold !