I really like the beauty of the scene, the forgotten and abandoned building with something alive in it. Could be hope or joy in the middle of nowwhere.
Yes, really nice and can have deeper a meaning

Thanks I’m glad you like it and yeah you pretty much got the major meaning behind it. Hope, the hope for joy, the hope of better tomorrows, and the hope in the knowledge that life goes on. Like the old phrase “And this, too, shall pass away.” The blemish on the town, the home of the betrayer, is slowly being reclaimed and erased by nature and the passage of time to soon exist only in memory. That idea in itself, the idea of something troubling being obliterated by the passage of time, brings me peace.

This is exactly my aesthetic. Broken down and worn out tells more of a story then new and fresh. Or even just upkept. I think you did a pretty good job telling that this place has been abandoned and hated for a long time. Plus the colors puts the focus squarely on the tree and character, which is pretty cool. Personally I might have wanted to see more graffiti/burns/broken walls or whatnot however if you pushed that much farther then it might distract from the focus. Happy balances all around.

Totally, gotta love abandoned places. I’ve been exploring a few around where I live, and actually got to camp in a ghost town, if you could call it that, about a year ago. Really it was just an old Mormon settlement that never got off the ground, barely any buildings standing, but the beauty of a desert sunrise/sunset, and the ancient petroglyphs on the canyon walls more than made up for the lack of physical ruins. I’m glad you like the composition, the whole scene is based off of a very vivid dream I had a while before painting this, I tried to capture the lighting and the overall vibe of the environment, with in the time limit that I had, to the best of my ability but painting from memories of a dream was more difficult than I initially anticipated. I would really like to go back and push stuff even further than I did. I had plans to have debris hanging from the ceiling, a lot more of the floor boards torn up, the windows and doors more destroyed than they currently are, holes in the walls and more of a coherent environment outside the windows, maybe scorch marks in places from a failed arson attempt. I can keep the tree and Evan as the focus by sticking to the value contrast and with the lighting, if everything not important and in the background is kept within a certain value range and Evan and the tree in another that should keep them as the focus, plus if I push the shadows to be just a bit cooler and the lights just a little bit warmer that will help too. But with only 2 weeks to work on this, with an extra week for corrections and 3 other studio classes vying for my time, I’m super happy with where got and how it turned out but if you have any suggestions tell me and I’ll hopefully post an updated version later when I can.
Just as a side note, I’m finally in my last year of college and was accepted into the BFA program and BFA project class thing and I’m totally stoked about it ... terrified as hell too but mostly excited.

Camping in a ghost town sounds like an interesting experience for sure. Not certain if its something I myself would do, but hey I know its a popular activity for good reason!

You definitely have a good head on you for noticing, well, art! Just don't nitpick everything you do too much. Knowing how to identify everything is one thing, but knowing where and how to cut corners is also super super important. There's a list a mile long of things that the average viewer won't notice. And for the people that WOULD notice it you just occasionally post up something with your 100% in it to show off.

Getting into your BFA is going to be super exciting, but also so, so much work. I think you can do it! Don't be afraid to really focus in on it if you need to. That shizz is important.