Timeless Competition

As i enjoy digital painting and is based around matte painting I am going to enter a competition which would help me improve my digital painting skills. Details about the competition ('PICTURING TIME') can be found here:
http://www.clockmakers.org/horology/clockmakers-picturing-time-competition-2013/ 

For my entry i came up with the concept of a soldier playing with a piano surrounded in a forest. I came up with this idea after being inspired by a photograph which i really liked. I wanted to capture the feeling of that photograph, which i used as reference.

Spoils of time

The piano represents something it used to be, that being in a warm and happy place used for entertainment but now a lost entity through time and war it is a mere toy for the soldier to play around with, surrounded by the coldness of the forest. Set in eastern europe during times of turmoil and war. I wanted to capture the feeling and atmosphere of this place, the vivid colours and the reality of a soldier. 

with lens flare

without lens flare