... Hard as I try, I can't see this foto as anything but sad. Maybe beautiful, maybe ugly too. I wanted to express my sorrow for a decomposing cypress tree- one remnant tree where an entire forest once grew...[/quote]
There is a beauty in sadness too. There is even a word for it: elegy.
Then there is a reality, ugly or not, and there is an artistic interpretation of it. You managed splendidly the latter. The tonal variations, simplicity of design, compositional placement of elements, balance... The little puffy cloud right on top of the distant stump, on the otherwise barren sky, while perhaps coincidental, is the icing on the cake.
