Paintings with a strong WOW factor often feature one of these elements, exceptionally: a strong mood or feeling, vivid or experimental color--or neutral, tonalist, subdued color, a vivid sense of light and shadow, a strong contrast of warm and cool tones, high value contrast, interesting texture, a sense of movement, edge variety.  Wow paintings do not try to do too many things at once.   They have a clear intention, and they have wisely let some things go, in order for other things to sing. This is tougher than it looks, and one reason they take our breath away. 

When you can infuse this first-hand personal reaction to the landscape, and become comfortable with manipulating your own images to best feature this personal reaction, then you can call your work YOUR WORK. And this is the type of work that can and should be awarded in competitive shows, and, dare I say, be rewarded financially in sales to the originating hard-working artist who strives for what I’ve described here.