I really love the colors throughout the rocks especially. Nice inclusion of additional color for interest -- something to appreciate for the viewer and it adds life. I think perhaps some of it is that it's an invitation to linger and the artist's eye or mind's eye view is more varied and thus complex. When the subject is very simple, I think every little nuance is a big deal because there are so few marks. When one has a more complex image all the bits tend to fuse into a whole -- something that doesn't usually do that with one mark. Here in this one there's a natural hierarchy and relationship as if you were stepping over the stones or wandering around the pond's edge. There's the color relationships, the marks with the brush, and all the diverse elements happening plus there's the story from the subject. It's way more active and participatory -- leastwise to a painter.

There is a school of art, Japanese do it a lot, where it's deliberately simplified to allow one to explore the shapes and values in a simple subject like a flower bloom and perhaps a stem and vase. The target of those is most frequently inviting people to flow with the serenity of the pattern or shape. It's more meditative and elegant, like a haiku poem. Every little bit is potentially a springboard into something far more grand and expansive. The challenge is that when such an image is presented and there are flaws or there is crudeness in any way, the crudeness or flaws take center stage and becomes too self conscious.

So this painting you did of the pond works with your style better -- at least in my opinion -- Just feedback for what it's worth about the form and selections one makes as an image creator -- how it comes across after you put your brushes down.