The same with me - nice piece :)

Ever since I was a child, I've imagined things like this. I just love it... small shacks, scattered across the mountain tops, connected by ropes and baskets, with airships drifting through the sky, carrying goods and items back and forth.

Are you my secret twin or something?

What a great place to build a shack.

Thanks all for the words of encouragement.  And while I don't think I am remotely at the level of Fool, I do like to look at his pieces for inspiration.

Ilkke: I appreciate the criticisms.  I haven't had good critique since school, and I post here (and at Pixellation) to try and get feedback.  I usually start with 3 tones per color and choose my darkest color to work with all colors in the piece.  I love keeping the color count low normally, but this piece was my first attempt at using more colors.  I'm not making any excuses, just letting you know.  ^_^  I'd love to hear any suggestions on what you specifically think is wrong with the clouds or how you would handle the suface textures to better define their materials.  I often feel my color use is so so (too localized, not vibrant enough, etc) so I think each piece I do these days is a way for me to push myself in directions I didn't feel comfortable going before.  Thanks for your frankness.

And on a side note, this piece was done just before the challenge entry (windmill) piece, so it would probably not be better.