Art Critique #1 - follow up

So I lightened the words. kind of made them fade into the objects (clouds, sky, and horses) behind them. still very readable. i looked at it and thought, yay! looks good. took some pics to post the results and then for fun pulled up the before pics. Which I happened to like better at that moment. so more contemplation. im hesitant to do 'too much' and ruin the "whimsical feel".
But it wasn't quite 'done'.

here's the original again.

and then here's the next stage.

Nick's a pretty good critic. he suggested adding some color to the horses to make them stand out more. i also added some gold to parts of the letters to help meld them more to the rest of the painting. here's its current state.


(if you want to see close up details, click on the pic above. the picture below is a lower res so if you click on it, you can see the whole image bigger and without scrolling)



im happy with this one, at least for today, but if you still have comments or suggestions, feel free to still make them. I have a few more paintings in progress, all at different stages.... so critique #2 is coming soon!

for more fun, here is another painting i recently finished.