Sunset

The first thing that strikes me about this piece is the quiet and solitude it presents. If the artist's desire was to provide us with a smooth and relaxing visual experience, that goal was accomplished. The warm earthy tones, matched with fairly free brush strokes gives us a good measure of visual satisfaction. The subject is appropriate to the mood and the mood is appropriate to the subject.

The palette is great, although perhaps a bit shallow. A bit of true red brought in from the edges might have added a little more drama, but that addition might also have affected the peaceful feeling of the artwork. It's one of those things we constantly experiment and struggle with. For myself, an artwork's palette is never completely set until the piece is finished, but that's just me.

Your light work is very good. The piece gives us enough contrast between dark and light areas so that we keep a nice grasp of the picture while it remains peaceful and muted. You understand the nature of the silhouette, giving your bird adequate detail yet keeping our view of it all black.

I think it's great, the way you give us that whole, huge setting sun, without letting it overpower the picture. You need to realize that can be a tough task to accomplish. I myself would bring a little bit of those wonderful orange tones into the lower curve of the sun, toward the lower left side. That might give it a little more contour for interest and would help to pull things together just a bit more.

My one area of true concern is the sky region in the lower left. You added some dark areas there, which is just fine for depth and for the darkening transition going toward the edge. However, your brush stroking there becomes too hard edged and you lose some of that nice smooth flow you have throughout the piece. Those dark areas need to be blended in order to maintain the texture you have established. Additionally, your sky seems to curve upward through the center of the piece. That's fine if it's a matter of style, but for best effect, that sky needs to flow straighter across the picture if you don't want us to be distracted by it.

Bonus points for the way the sunlight shines through the clouds, providing those great colors.

So overall, you have a very nice piece of artwork here. The concept is good. The composition is good. The palette is very nice, and the technique has a very solid foundation.

You mention that you are a "beginning" artist. I think that concerns you more than it should. You don't need to apologize to anyone here for being brave enough to share your artistic vision. There are people here on dA who have posted hundreds of images over a decade or more, who couldn't render a setting sun the way you have. You can bank on that.

To me, you're a growing artist who is testing a new style or technique.

Enjoy your art.

Thank you.