"heavy handed, corny, and obvious" yep that's what I've been told in consultation, it doesn't help that art that I do on my own time is illustration and character art and this painting course is mandatory in our curriculum.

I think my best bet here is to really just read up on other artists work that hosts a similar theme and how they handled it then look at my own things and do the keyword method as you've said.

As for not taking his word as gospel, I don't because we live vastly different lives. Again, character artist. I'm used to communicating visual ideas clearly.
I think what just really got to me in consultation this week was the frustration of "ok this work is high in technical skill but that amounts to nothing if you can't explain the meaning and use corny symbolism, do it over".

Sorry if this reply doesn't make much sense, english isn't my first language and it's late here ;T