comments please

[Friggin Ian]

[Mike Dutton]

I see a bit of a Brad Holland influence here where there are a few large shapes and everything is texture driven, but in this piece I feel like the textures are overpowering. There are a lot of places where the edges could use some sharpening, and areas where it can be softened, like the smoke in the sky.
The other problem is that the values are all very similar. This makes the figure in the foreground very hard to distinguish from the rest of the piece. I think the black pants were intended to create a focal point on the character along with the contrast in highlights on the top of the building roof he's standing on, but you've got the same value of black in the shadows of other buildings, strong whites all over the rest of the painting, and he really doesn't stand out at all because of it.

I like the scene quite a bit though, and with stronger edges and a definite value pattern I think you could push this piece toward a very strong finish.