Solitary Canoe

I actually had a good start on this and thought I'd get it done before the deadline...I always fool myself that way.  I decided that for this one, I would employ what Pamela Allen has been teaching in the online class I'm taking with her "Think Like and Artist" which has taken me a lot of thinking since her style and mine are so different.

For this challenge, I thought of doing a number of things, my daughter running and a couple of others, but decided that I wanted to do one of my niece's fiance.  I had hoped to do him fly fishing since I intend to do a series along that line, but she only had a picture of him launching his canoe in a river near Arden, North Carolina.

To do this one, I free-cut all the pieces, none of them were drawn ahead of time. I hope that this creates sort of an abstract, although I admit it isn't what I usually do when I abstract things...  The yellowish blob is actually iridescent lame (imagine the accent there, although I admit this does look a little lame) which caught the light badly for the photo...it actually just gives a shimmer to that part of the water. 

I don't think this is a particularly good composition.  I am hoping that when I put more thread painted leaves and limbs in the background and the water, then it will be more interesting, at least texturally.

I thought of cropping it to this, however I don't feel that it gives the feeling of solitude that the larger view does.  The extra water makes it look more....lonely in a way.

Any suggestions on improving this would be greatly appreciated.