After a long break . . . . commission time!

Somehow I think that I learn more when I have a long break from painting than when I put in hours at my easel.  It seems that things settle inside my brain and all of a sudden I understand things that I was only just thinking about before.  This time, on coming back to my canvas after a 2 month break, I discovered a need to work on brush strokes, something I had thought a little before, but now I see needs to be a major area of focus.

In December I received my first commission.  My mother and father-in-law want paintings for their house in Miami and requested a still life to begin with.  We settled on a bowl of apples and oranges and a blue cloth.  I did the initial sketch and blocking in before my big break.

Then during my break I began to think I needed to add some movement in the blue tablecloth.  Not too much, as the request was to keep the still life as simple as possible.  

Still a lot of work to do, but it feels good to be back in the studio painting again.