Thank you for your feedback.  I really do appreciate the critique.  My water tiles really do stick out and distract the eyes now that you mention it.  I wasnt really sure what to do for the small file when I was submitting it, so I just used the grass tile because it was small enough to fit.  What do people usually do to make another image for the preview?  I am not used to working with larger images.  And I havent worked much with tiles either. yea I didnt really make any transition tiles other than the road so thats where the boring squares with no shore or transition comes from.  Time was a large part of they lack of variety in tiles, since I was trying to finish the piece to be submitted on time, and I am pretty nooby and take a long time.  Since I didnt make the challenge anyway, maybe I will polish with your advice and make a more complete tile set whenI have some time.

Hope my critique can be constructive, as you said.

Well, it´s a shame your map didn´t make it to the challenge. If you had more time to work on it, I would reccomend:

a) Less contrast and maybe less texture on the water. It hurts the eye. I had the same problem with many pieces.

b) I really liked your trees and houses.

c) Maybe less contrast in the grass as well. And perhaps adding little detail added here and there, to look less copy-pasted?

d) Now, what really bugged me... You made an interesting shaped road. And yet, you made a square shore? A sandy line waving around the island would have made a beautiful beach surrounding the area! =)

e) Finally: a better and more interesting miniature. Your map is worth far more than a grassland square!