Painting number 4

Hi all,
I can't believe another week's gone since I began this challenge. I had a day trip to Barmouth on Wednesday and, because it was a three hour drive around twisty roads in each direction,  it took me another day to get over it. In fact, my wife got me a bottle of Sanatogen tonic wine to see if it will bring some life back to my poor old soul. I have had on glass full and the taste is great, but regarding its pick-me-up qualities I'm not quite sure. If I start dancing about like a new born lamb I'll let you know.

Anyway back to the painting, this week I thought I'd have a go at something different and chose a red admiral butterfly. It was done as usual with watercolour paints on 140lb cold pressed paper. I won't beat about the bush any longer, here it is in all its glory.

Again I am disappointed with the way it turned out.
My view of whats wrong with it.
1 The butterfly is smack bang in the middle of the painting, so that was my first mistake.
2 The butterfly doesn't look very dainty, in fact it has all the fragility of a pair of welders mitts.
3 The background is an horrible colour. I come from a large family and it reminds me of the over diluted orange cordial I had when I was a youngster.
4 The blackberries are purple when they should be black.
5 The leaves look like they've got some disease that all the people on Gardener's World couldn't cure.

Good points
1 I think the stems have a pleasing curl about them.
2 The painting is small, so not much time or paint was wasted.

Now there may be some people who think I'm being a bit harsh on myself, well perhaps I am. I guess it is all about meeting ones own expectation. At my age, how good can I expect to get and what sort of paintings do I want to do?

Well, photo realistic and even realistic are probably objectives that are beyond me. I've never been a fan of abstract painting or impressionism so what am I left with. The answer is that I want to paint images that are pleasing to the eye and look as if at least a thimble full of skill was used in their creation.

To me art is all about making pleasing images. I am sick of hearing expressions like, "good art should say something" or "great art should be though provoking." Bullshit, great art just needs to be a pleasing image however it is produced.

If you have any views on my painting or on what constitutes a great picture, please let me know. By the way if you want to check out my website and see what free books are on offer this week please click here.