Asparagus

It seems like I'm developing a serious shopping habit, browsing for suitable still life subjects on the fruit and vegetable stands. This trip I took a fancy to this bunch of asparagus spears which rapidly landed on my still life bench. I found the subject taxing in that there were a variety of greens to be mixed as well as balancing the pink tones. This is a subject that I could return to as I found it a good exercise in mixing and good preparation for moving outdoors and dealing with the range of greens that present we plein air painters with so many problems.

Asparagus - Oil on gesso board 7" x 5"

Coffee and Cake

Off to the home of a pal of mine today to have some chat and a little painting time. A simple still life set up was the order of the day. The set up may have been simple but the various reflections were anything but simple - so the word that I had running through my head throughout the session was SIMPLIFY. Maybe the simplification was too much as I feel tempted to make adjustments here and there, but I've decided to sleep on it and hopefully resist the temptation.

Coffee and Cake - Oil on canvas board 12" x 10"

Pomegranate

Little time this last week but managed to catch an hour with this pomegranate. Lesson to be learned this week is spend more time and care in colour mixing, I was a little slapdash with this and thought about wiping it. However, I think we all have days when things don't work as well as they might so here is my latest 'less than satisfactory' piece.

Pomegranate - Oil on gesso board 6" x 6"

Tulips

I decided on a change of subject matter today, there were flowers in the house and nothing at the moment is safe from a trip to my cramped working space for the purposes of being painted.

Interesting though I found the exercise, I'm a little bit disappointed by the final result and all down to some poor choices that I made early on. My biggest mistake was one of compositional arrangement, the gap in the middle of the picture being the main culprit. On reflection I'd have been better including more blooms and foliage to fill more of the space as well as establishing more interconnections between the elements.

Never mind lots to think about and build upon.

Tulips - Oil on gesso board 7" x 5"