This is how the painting started out. It was ok, but not great. The set did not flow in a way that looked good to me. Everything on the canvas seems to be on it's own instead of working together. If you go from left to right, the apple and pear are together, then the bowl of fruit, then the vase. You may be wondering why I did not change this up as I was working on the painting, but sometimes you don't realize that things are not working until you have the finished piece. It's frustrating for sure, but that's how it goes. Not everything you do will be great.
The Art Guild was having a show called Red! and of course I was making myself nuts by setting up a very complicated still life that is going to take months to complete. Luckily, a friend suggested doing something a bit easier and I realized that I had this canvas sitting around the studio. I was happy with the vase so I left that alone, but everything else was repainted.
I started out by changing the background from green to red. Then I repainted all of the fruit. I put another coat of red over the apples and pears, and then changed the green apples to red and added some grapes in front of the vase. I also repainted the metal dish. It was a little too rough for my liking, so I cleaned it up a bit. Last, I repainted the wood shelf to make it integrate into the new painting.
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| Red Vase With Fruit, 16x12, oil |
This is the new painting. I like it so much better. I feel like everything is now flowing across the canvas in the way that it should be.
The painting was accepted into the Red show, and in a huge surprise, won first place!
Don't be afraid to change something up if it is not working or you are unhappy with the finished product. I'm already on to another redo!
