Still Life with Blue Vase 0/c 16x20

For some strange reason I have resisted doing still lifes this winter until just recently. I have spent too much time dreaming about warmer days and painting outside. I finally got around to rearranging the studio so I could set up larger still lifes and this is the latest. The joke on me is that I somehow got all worried about the onion in this one. I scraped it off and repainted it a half a dozen times. Last Friday when we had record warm temperatures and I should have been painting outside, I was inside painting the stupid onion. I eventually solved the onion problem by cooking it in a stew for Friday's diner.

Blue Vase Sketch oil 8x10

Part of the learning for me in these still lifes has to do with trying to balance the spontaneous energy of the quick sketch with the longer working time involved in larger paintings. There are more still lifes in my future, but it snowed last night so I'll probably go outside to paint and end up complaining about the cold.