palette knife painting

I made this piece after I had the idea to create a giant cloud for my palette knife painting. It was my original idea, and I thought it would be kind of challenging and it might turn out cool. My original idea was not to make the cloud turn from rough to cartoonish (smooth), but I think I just gradually got better with the palette knife as the piece progressed. 

We started with a red wash on the board, then I just started from the back forward and gradually got up to the cloud. The whole thing was made from thick acrylic, with only a couple of different-shaped palette knives. 

I wanted very high contrast because I feel like bomb explosions and clouds in general are eye-catching. I'm also glad that the cloud became more smooth because I think it would be too boring if the whole thing was all one texture.