For me, the biggest mistake new painters make, is to paint sunsets. They are very difficult to get the colour right. Badly painted Birch trees is my second complaint.
You see them in art show, three white vertical trunks ( one slanted) with black bits. There is no bark texture, no contour and no shadow or highlight.
My suggestion is to take a good look at a birch tree before you paint it. See the peeling bark.
Just for inspiration check out Robert Batemen's birch tree.
http://www.artcountrycanada.com/bateman-robert-hairy-woodpecker.htm
My challenge to my art friends is to paint the subject birch trees. They don't have to be realism. I will add the photos to this page and my facebook page with a link to your website.
I hope this painting of a birch tree on MOBA is the last bad one.
http://www.museumofbadart.org/coll2/image01.php
Art of Kit Cutting. Well known for her paintings and sculpture she has been creating art for all her life. Not afraid of colour, Kit's art work expresses her love of people and their stories.
