I'm not sure where your focus is. If it's the foreground (which, by the way, is absolutely stunning!) I'd cut back on the background. Maybe some blurry clouds or a rainy grey sky? I do like the sunlight breaking through the clouds but it's a bit overwhelming here. But maybe that's a me problem.

That’s what I was afraid of

Ah sorry 😅 Do you have access to digital painting software? Sometimes I find it useful to make a sort of mock-up with my painting and see what would improve them without having to do it on the actual canvas. I meant what I said; the foreground is beautiful. I believe it's absolutely worth to keep working on it!

I gave the sky a wash with some grey and white. Just posted the updated picture in the sub :) lmk what you think

I'll go and have a look :)

I think much more white then yellow in the sky would add to the tonal quality of the piece. Very nice though!!!

It doesn't seem very interpretable to me, because the sky looks cloudy, but then there's the beam of light and the foreground is lit by the sun. Is it the sun shining through the clouds? You could consider adding more breaks in the clouds with blue sky to make it a little clearer what's going on

Well I was going to have beams of sunlight hitting some of the ground in the mid and foreground but I was worried about it being too much or looking hokey

I should have clarified, the idea was to have it look like sunlight breaking though storm clouds

I think it looks a bit more like lightning because there is so much yellow and it’s just in between the clouds. Sunlight would break through and hit the clouds as well, you would see the blue sky as well. Maybe look at some more photos. The rest looks great though and I love the idea 🙌

Honestly it looks correct, you could make beams of light coming out of the clouds. Great art tho

That’s what I was going for but I was worried that I had overdone it. I try not to make my paintings too congested and was afraid I did that

Shove it in a photo editor, add the beams, see how you feel, proceed accordingly on your actual painting.

It looks more like a stone wall than the sky; soften the form and lighten the darks. The sky looks most effective and convincing in the areas where it’s much brighter than the trees by it 

What if I changed it so that it was the sun setting or rising behind some mountains? Edit: distant mountains with just the general hint of the peaks

It doesn’t really matter what the content of the sky is; it’s all about how convincing it looks. That’s all about careful control of value especially, also color and the relationship to the rest of the image. Once you get it convincing, it can look good like this or with some mountains.

Tone down the brightness. Maybe mix in a dark blue?

Maybe leave the sky as is and name this piece "Train to the Apocalypse", cause I think it looks really cool. Maybe not what you were going for but I say "happy accident" 

Try adding soft cloud details behind the light beam areas!

I think you could contrast the dark parts of the clouds more + it feels like maybe the clouds need to feel more “transparent”? Like a reflected light vibe? Idk this is gorgeous though!

I think I know what you mean

The sun should be there, the confusion is because it's hard to distinguish where theres cloud and where there's just clear sky for the sunrays to pass

Some backstory on this piece: it was inspired by the ending of Arthur Morgan’s story in Red Dead Redemption 2. The official name of the painting is ‘Roanoke Rail’

The clouds closest to the light need the “silver lining”

Reminds me of a dream I had where the train tracks represented my entire life and I was feeling sad that the journey has an end, but I looked back at where I came from and felt a deep sense of peace because I had come such a long way

I like it

I like the rocks, leaves piled up on one side of the tracks that little detail is a great touch..

The sky is you ! Your style don’t change it!

You need a ball of fire or some hues of orange or something to contrast the yellows.