"Dawn of the Feast of the Capra" by Kathleen Hardy

The colors are brilliant and nothing seems to be misplaced, but for such a daring and emotional composition, there does not seem to be any life in many of your paintings. In this one for example, his sleeves hang listlessly at the elbows, and despite the fact he seems to be sacrificing something, his cloak doesn't seem to be doing anything at all. I'm sorry if it sounds corny, but his clothes could be billowing out a little more dramatically. I mean at this point, something ought to show his fanaticism. Very cool that this one has brightened up a bit though.

Actually, there is no sacrifice going on. It's worship of the goat. The figure, (a female, but that's not crucial), is not sacrificing anything, she's holding up the horns to catch the first rays of dawn, thus ushering in the feastday, (hence the title, "Dawn of the Feast...)

There is also no wind. The coat is a very heavy quilted velvet with metal grommets, (though that may be hard to see in this small version), the slight breeze that stirs the ribbons and feathers is not strong enough to have any effect on the coat.

I think maybe you are a fan of the overly dramatic. I don't do work like that. You may prefer art in that vein, but that does not mean that my work has flaws that you imagine. Your comments are more a statement of the kind of work you'd rather see, not so much a critique of flaws. This work looks exactly as it's supposed to, with regard to the limitations of scanning, reducing and optimizing for web an otherwise large painting. (It won the competition, so I must have done something right.)

Well done, You deserve your award..I think this image
is very well done!! I think one of the greatest aspects
of Fantasy art is that it does not necessarily have to
mean anything at all.. It"s beautiful. That is what art
is all about Get with the program, people!!!!!
(Nice job Kathleen!!!!)