John ... your abstracts (including title) always get me thinking. The image is simple & complex at the same time. I see a broken heart plus a face within ... one that is distraught, in pain, or sad. I like the color tones too. Excellent work John.
I agree with the above comments: this is inspiring and gets one thinking! I'm a fan of gradient backgrounds, but I find they can be problematic with their banding. The problem got worse the bigger my pictures grew. There seems to be very little one can do, apart from introducing 'noise' of one type or another. I read that the more extreme the gradient, the more obvious the banding. Perhaps this would be avoided if there was a shadowy suggestion of something going on in the background? A blurred out hospital ward, a blackened and destroyed street, or something else. :-) Apart from that, I really like the smoothness of those faces... it's a very expressive piece.
This really stood out on the contest entries page,ipso facto, it is outstanding! I like the intense definition and the graduated background. The gears are always working with you. lol
Very interesting haunting vision. I do enjoy the minimal colors, but also wonder how it would be in B/W. I like that the interpretation implied can have many as many meanings as are viewers, like music. : )