When I saw it in my preview, I felt I must write a critique because it is a real awesome artwork!
The background is just amazing. It has many calm colours that bond eachother in a very nice way. the grass has a huge variety of different tones and the flowers on it give a very special touch (That is why you got 5 stars in vision). Also the rocks reflect the greenish of the grass and it looks very dynamic. The waterfall looks very good! I think you it looks odd to you because of the little grey shadows that are in it (in the waterfall and in the splashes), water should reflect the colours of the environment if it is clean. I would use a grey more greeny or a bluegreen colour for that instead of just grey.
you should try to use white only for splashed, and aboid it in water movement. The pound looks very nice at simple view, but once I gazed at it I realised that it has too much white. The whole background is full of colours, and the pound should also be Greys are very boring, I think you could have used a very soft lighblue for the "movements" of the water when the kirin is in and the one close to the shoe. The effect of the reflection is very well done in my opinion, but have in mind that the reflection folows the light pattern. The light comes from the upper left, so you should try to make the reflection in a diagonal from the lighting sourse. In this case the trees are too vertical and they should be in diagonal following the sourse of light. (I hope you got my point, my english is not very clear xD)
And the kirin is so cute! The eyes are beautiful and has a very innocent expression. I like it very much manes and tail are lovely, and the anatomy is very well done. The only thing I would change is the right feet, the part of the first articulation is too big, I think it should be a little thiner.
I think that is all. I hope this helps you If you didnt understand anything because of my messy english elt me know!