Landscapes - the Next Step

The first landscape piece I made in our second class was inspired by a calendar photo.  It always amazes me how each project I tackle teaches me lots of new things.  With this piece, I ended up with too much contrast between the purple and yellow and it looked more like a couple of evil eyes than streaks of sunshine peeking through the purple clouds.  I'm thinking perhaps the purple should have been a softer shade?  So, this is turning into my practise piece :-). (Click on the photos for a larger view - sorry about the small captions - blogger is not letting me enlarge it for some reason!) 
 

This is the original calendar photo that inspired my landscape

The "evil eyes"

amazing how much nicer it looks with a mat

I got very brave and added the thread painted trees with black So Fine thread from Superior.  It's a 50 weight thread and doesn't fill in the trees very quickly.  Perhaps I will try a thicker thread next time?
 

two trees added

with two more trees added and framed with another thrift shop frame

It also did not eliminate the 'evil eye' syndrome LOL.  I'm thinking of adding a lighter charcoal/grey thread to one side of the thicker tree branches as suggested by a few friends.  But, of course I'm suffering from "paralysis by analysis" as Lori Kennedy of the Inbox Jaunt likes to label it!!  Do I leave it or keep going and possibly wreck it? I do like the way the trees turned out.  Any advice is welcome :-).