When birds stop singing...

Very moody, I like it

My eyes go like this:
Sun - flag - wave - lower left part where the ocean meets the land

Thanks Felix! Appreciate your response.

Oh, this is super cool! I like the very realistic sea green in the eye of the wave! I think you also did a great job translating the lighting into "dark daylight." My eye travels from the sun to the eye of the wabe, to the rock, and then out to the flag and back again. If I weren't so attracted to that green color, it might have gone differently. What was your glazing process like? Nice work!

@Dracula thank you for your response!
About glazing: I let it the parts which i wanted to glaze dry. As layer was thin it took a week only. Rock did not dry, but it was out of the glazing scope. However it created some difficulties.
Then i put very tiny amount of transparent pigments on the pallet and used linseed oil only to dilute them on the side. I used permanent alizarin crimson, phtalo blue and Indian yellow.
Then with brush I applied thin layer of the color I needed and used my finger to create even coverage by smudging it. Then I took piece of old t-shirt (paper towel will not work) covered my finger and it helped to create smoot transitions between neighboring colors, yellow-red, red blue, etc. It also helped to remove excess of oil within one color first as it was way too much oil.
Glazing darkens the painting. So if you plan to go for glazing make sure that initial layer is lighter a bit.

For the eye of the wave I added olive green from IY+PB as it was dull green before.

I will not go for more glazing layers , but it is possible, so drill is the same let it thoroughly dry and glaze again over the areas of interest. 1 week in the current humidity and temperature for me was enough to let it dry. However that rock that did not dry when I touched it with brush it spread its color into the sky and I used the same piece of t-shirt to carefully remove it.
Another glazing method is to use varnish but I do not know how.

Tom, thanks a lot! Idea was to work through the contrast when reds and greens are close to enhance each other. I am glad you liked sky color from sun to the sky: it is IY+TW, TW+AC+IY+ drop of ultramarine to tone it down, in the bluish side more ultramarine and tiny drop of Indian yellow to tone it down. Blueish side was later glazed with cold phtalo blue to make it a bit darker.

@Felix, @dracula, @Tom0779, Gentlemen, do you think if I moved the sun a bit to the left to be between the flag and the wave, Would it be more attractive for the viewer? At this moment sun and wave are close to be on the vertical line of golden ratio.

I did some alterations in Paint app and attached it as extra photo. Color transitions are ugly but the question is about the sun. Do you think it would be more harmony in it if sun is moved to the left?

For me the original version works better

@Felix, Thanks! I feel like something is off here in this painting, but cannot figure it out. I am thinking composition. I am puzzled with this one. May be it is bothering because there is a "hole" in the sky where the sun is supposed to be... I don't know, but the painting gives a disturbing feeling.

I think a disturbing feeling is very appropriate for a painting titled "When birds stop singing..." featuring a blacked out sun! Isn't it the hightest goal for art to create emotion?

@SunnyLady - I agree with the others, the original composition flows better for me as well.

Thank you all for your valuable inputs and for answering all the questions! I appreciate it a lot!
My take away: continue learning about golden ratio as it looks like very powerful tool to bring attention to the certain part in the painting, however selection of the focal point needs to be thoughtful. Also very interesting to continue investigating the topic of eye-walk through the painting.

Thanks a lot for engaging into this discussion!

Thank you for bringing such higher level discussion to the community!

My eyes are going like this...sun.wave . sun . rocks. Sun.flag

..Continued.. Sun.....always back to sun. My eyes are drawn to the sun. Not disturbing to me at all. A very stunning painting in my eyes.

Oh.. And original sun placement.

@LJM, thanks a lot! Do you think sun is because of the highest contrast may be?
I agree to all of you, it is better when it stays there in original spot. Thank you very much for your answers!

Yes. I think that you are right. Highest contrast... But for me...also .. The sun is very mesmerizing...which is why my eyes keep going back to it...

Thank you LJM, I think you pointed me to something that happened just as I went with the painting. Initially my plan was just a seascape with normal sun and a nice wave as a focal point. I did a sketch but when I started working with the color I decided to change it because I was excited about the eclipse. Thus sun took all the attention and original idea of the wave as focal point got killed. The sun overtook that world and made the wave less important. That's ok. Happy accident. I think if I would change it to normal yellow sun wave would become a focal point. What's your thoughts?

You have a beautiful and I mean a beautiful wave.!! As well as the rocks and clouds... But for me, the sun eclipse is distracting my eyes which is why they(my eyes) keep going back to it. The Eclipse. I think also is the fact of the rarity of it in general. I don't want to miss it.

But I think that you are correct.. A normal sun would have a regular effect and draw the eye to the wave.

@LJM: thanks a lot LJM for your help and for the discussions. I made digital alteration and it brought me to the initial idea of the Wave. Size of the sun as well also distorts stability of the composition. So black dark right side overweights the light and action-less left side. So composition in the painting is not balanced. As soon changed the sun to the light and decreased its size I feel it is better.

@Felix
@Tom0779
@Dracula
@LJMpaintings

Guys would you please check two new attached pictures and please share your thoughts?

In my eyes...The yellow sun makes the wave more prominent.. however the colouring in the whole picture seems to be too dark with it. I think the yellow sun needs brighter highlights in wave, water etc.
I don't think the small eclipse looks right...

Thanks a lot LJM! I will keep learning and investigating stability in the composition ! I appreciate your time and valuable feedback!

Good bye the old painting and hello the new one! This canvas was re-used for another painting: https://www.twoinchbrush.com/originals/Sunnylady/december-sea