9"x12" oil on linen mounted on hardboard

I set up this still life with the opposite intent of the previous posting. I used dramatic lighting with definite shadow and lit areas and placed most of my objects in the light except for one apple. Also, after painting several still lifes with minimal color and in the lighter end of the gray scale, I was after a louder and more dramatic idea. Besides using the contrast of shadow and light to create my "loud-er" still life, I thought if I placed color notes which sit close together on the color wheel I'd get more zing, a "hey look at me," which is why I used my favorite piece of copper with the red delicious apples. Placing the green grapes (so hard to paint) behind was my neutral and transition into the background space.

Still looking at David Leffel, Jeff Legg, Henri Fantin-Latour, and my new addition this week - Morandi. Teaching gets me back into still life painting because it's a great way to study all those juicy art issues in the comfort of my studio. But I am missing the great outdoors particularly since we're now blanketed in heavy gray skies. Once I finish painting for my January show I'll be back to plein air painting.

16"x20" oil

Playing around with atypical lighting for me. This still life was mostly in light using lighter fabric. I'm not sure if I'm finished because I'm wondering if I compressed the values particularly in the background and tabletop drop, would it make a stronger statement??? I've been re-reading David Leffel and Gregg Kreutz books as well as looking at Henri Fantin-Latour still lifes. From them, I'm guessing the answer is "yes."

"Colors From the Sideboard" 11"x14"

I have several paintings halfway completed and I'm trying not to start anything new. But looking at so much wonderful art creates more ideas which I throw quickly down on canvas in hopes to complete later. Now I'm trying to slow down and smell the roses and enjoy the journey of discovery with paint. For the first time ever, I'm investigating higher keyed still life arrangements. I'm defining high-key as a narrow range of values in the higher end of the value scale.

After starting this still life I realized it really didn't fully stay with my objective which is why I set up another and another to push to high-key paintings. I'll hopefully soon finish those and post them as well. The value variation in my background is very minimal and subtle. This is also new to me but I thought worked well to pop the foreground objects.

A very challenging element was textures. I had to scrape away the porcelain many times because I wanted a distinctly different feel of smooth compared to the other objects as well as I wanted the highlights on the porcelain to cause the most attention. This is an issue I'll have to address again and hope for better success in another painting. I've taken this piece as far as I'm able.