Rays? Or No Rays?.....That Was The Question!!!

This was the question/dilemma I faced upon the completion of my latest painting called "Spearmint Forest".  If you are familiar with my work, you would know that I do a lot of "tree" and forest paintings. I really enjoy doing them and they usually can be relaxing to look at, at least thats the feeling I try to convey when I paint them! LoL!
The common dilemma most artist face upon completion or near completion of a piece: when to say when. Sometimes its not that easy to know when a piece is done. This can work both ways, meaning that the painting can be "incomplete", and thats a feeling that at least I get, that tells me that the painting looks "okay", but its missing something!! Such it is problematic because adding something runs the risk of it (the painting) being "heaven forbid", over-done!!!

Well, such an issue came forth with "Spearmint Forest". I was done with the painting, but I pondered a couple of weeks the idea that it was missing something! So I knew then I needed to get the often "brutally" honest opinion of my loving wife (whose my toughest critic, btw). One of the flexibilities of a digital painting is that one can add or subtract much easier than when working with actual paints. I then, made a copy and began rendering layers of sun rays. No easy task, believe me!! So, now the only thing left was to show them to her side by side. I was kinda surprised at how she chose the piece with the sun rays without much, if any hesitation! I took another look and agreed. Now, I can't imagine why it was even a question.