I admire this piece a lot. There is so much action flowing through it. The colors are just so vibrant and contrast well off of each other. The shading and highlights are simple, which really make this piece aesthetically pleasing to look at. The textures of the brushes are so soft and contrast the bright colors really well. The piece is really delightful to look at.

The action of the scenery is just so stellar. I love the concept of tainting an innocent background with blood and terror. The cherry blossoms in the background add a nice innocent feeling to it. Also, the fact that a blonde girl wearing a kimono is a bit weird but is a nice change of pace. She's a crazy lady wielding a fiery scimitar going through the woods destroying every beast in her way. The intense colors really add to the action of the piece. The bright pink from the cherry blossoms, the yellows and oranges from the burning scimitar, contrast the cool blues and greens of the background fantastically. Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems that the black and red gashes on the top and bottom of the piece are the gash marks from the cut the scimitar made, that is indeed a nice touch; it adds a different perspective to the piece.

The shading and the highlighting in this piece are real simple. I think that's what really attracted me was the sheer simplicity of the piece, but the amount of action it packed in it was just awesome. The shading of the woman's shadow pretty much follows the shape of her body and then her shadow on the ground is just a huge shadow that follows her. My only problem with that is probably the shadow on the ground should contrast the light speaking direction-wise since the rest of her body follows the lighting direction and is in placed in an appropriate manner, but the ground shadow does not. The fire trail is a beautiful touch because it adds more character to the piece. The textures match the piece so well. The brush movement is as intense as the colors that are used with in it. The background has a splash pattern with the shades of blue and green and really represent the forest well since it is just a mess of trees. You went into a little more detail with the character which is also good because it contrasts the more simple background well.

I think the main problem with the piece though is it is too sharp, besides the minor other problems I pointed out. A little softer on the sharpness would work well with this piece.

You did a fantastic job with this piece. Keep up the awesome work!