Elixir of Life

While the concept of a wizard-like figure working in a study has been depicted often, this piece adds new and magical elements: Beautiful surprises can be found everywhere. Just a few things distract me from the wizard, whom the artist has intended to be the main focus: The slight overlap of the color of the robe onto the globe-like object in the left, the brightness coming through a nighttime window, the brightness of the bird's top half compared to the darkness that surrounds it, and the lack of detail in the sky compared to the rest of the piece. The blurry piece of tubing in the right corner also catches my eye. While the unfocused nature of an object usually lends it to being very far away, an object that is close to us is not usually out of focus unless it is literally inches from our eyes, which I don't believe the tubing is intended to be. None of these are "problems" that really need to be addressed for the piece to be successful, however. All of these details are overshadowed by the sheer magical quality that radiates from every corner here. In particular, the details in the book, the quill, the test tubes, and the tunnel doorway really add depth. Overall, this is absolutely wonderful!