I decided to see if I could increase my interest in painting another still life by adding another element. Previously, I'd been painting a series of small still life's, just to get used to painting again. When they said, "If you don't use it, you loose it, " they were right!

Now that I at least feel like I'm headed in the right direction, I'm giving myself a little more to work with. Another object will let me work on problem-solving, and keep me from getting bored with single-subject paintings.

So, this one has a title! It's called "Conceptual Problem."

Just painting a glass of OJ might have been nice, but. . . You get the idea.

I'm hoping to start doing multiple painting each week, soon. I really need to paint more to get better!

Mike S.

After doing a third apple painting, I realized I wasn't seeing anything that looked like progress. So, I took a couple of days to review some of the very basics and decided to give myself a break and switch to a different subject. This time it's a bell pepper.

To my eye, this one is an improvement, in that it does look more dimensional. This is because I limited myself to just three values. That is to say, the same green for the color of the pepper, but three versions of it, a light, a middle tone, and a dark. After it was initially painted, there was some blending done, but not much. I really needed to simplify things so I wouldn't have to think about too many things at once.

Not something I'd want to sign and frame, but at least I now feel I'm making some headway. It's going to take quite a few more of the little paintings to get where I want to go, but I'm on the way.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL