Delft and Milk Glass

I've committed myself to focus on portraits and florals during these cold winter months. No more plein air painting for me until the temperatures hit the upper 20s.
So with this painting instead of my favorite dark backgrounds I played with white on white with the additional challenge of trying to use natural light to create a dark, a light, a bright, a dull.

"Tea with Lemon" www.hong-sammons.com

Lately I've retreated into my studio more than plein air painting because I've been thinking about, in paint as well as in my head, about some of my notes posted around my studio. One thing milling about is what makes art good. There are so many many different ideas on this subject I would love to hear your thoughts.

I find still life's a great opportunity to pursue some of these qualities which define art for me in undisturbed solitude. For this set up, I was really trying to push creating form from shadow and light but also some of the impressionists ideas of color patches. (6"x12" oil on linen)