A Pear on Wednesday  oil 5.75x4.5
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I painted this one for my class last Wednesday. I usually let all the students find their own subject matter and lighting.  This last Wednesday I thought I'd make the suggestion that the new students try this set up.  I created it to demonstrate a light against middle value, a dark against middle value and two dark values against each other with the corresponding lost edges.  All the students decided to do this pear against a blue background.  A very successful class with the students leaving with a better understanding of values and edges.  They would like to do it again-maybe this Wednesday we will do apples with cut edges.

Swinging on a Star  oil  8.5x8
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Part of the beet bondage series.  Painted this one three times. Played with the placement of the tops of the onions and the values of the bulbs.  Decided on a swingier line for the middle bulb tops and darker value for all three bulbs, especially the far left. I also started the painting as a 10x8 but decided that it needed to be cropped in.  Mitch Albala in his landscape book talks about a flexible picture window.  Basically you paint on a larger canvas that you think you will need and have the ability to crop in and out as the composition demands.  And it's often quite demanding.