Susan's North Carolina Red Barn

Susan is participating in a 5 day speed painting challenge. This is her first painting. It's from a photo she took in North Carolina while driving by. It's an 8x8 painted in 40 minutes or less. I think it works well.

I might consider a few minor things if she were to do it again.

1. I might make this far hill a little lighter to be more distinct from the trees in front of it. This would create a greater sense of depth.
2. I might clean up the color and lighten the value on this silo. It appears to be this dark in the photo but I think it would read better a little lighter and cleaner, especially near the top.
3. The value of the roofs on the two smaller buildings could be knocked down as they are the lightest things in the picture and are set against dark trees which causes them to pop out. I think that the barn is the star of the show so maybe consider lightening the barn roof a bit after you knock the other back.
4. In future I might consider going either higher or lower with your primary subject.

I've indicated a few compositional options in quick sketches below.

 The thing about quick sketching or painting is to take a beat to formulate a plan of attack before starting. Taking even a few minutes to do a quick thumbnail sketch can help. When I go to figure drawing or have a really tight deadline I like to slow down and visualize possibilities in my mind and even picture some of the main moves. It can be like sports that way. It helps to center and be calm before starting. For myself I usually make a mess when I don't do that and just start putting marks down without even a little plan. It can be easy to get stuck executing from a photo without taking a beat to think about how deviating a little might make something more interesting.

These sketches are in different ratios. If you redo this you might consider a more horizontal canvas.

The first one shows the trees dropping down behind the barn like in the photo. I like the sweep of the trees and where they cross behind the barn.

This second one is closer to square and is an idea to push way in to the scene. I like the possibility of making the value and object shapes more abstract elements.

The third one is a 6x8 format and shows a push in as well and dropping the composition with a little less foreground.  It has the trees kind of like you did them behind the barn. Without the broader view of the sweep of the treeline the trees become less interesting intersecting below the barns roof line. The side buildings are cropped.

Remember, our photos are inspirations. We can interpret them as we see fit and you can move mountains and trees and everything else.