Three Pears

I've been working really hard (struggling) with figures on 16 x 20.
Don't know yet if there's improvement with them but thought I'd tackle a
small still-life for a change of pace. I feel pretty pleased with this and it
gave me some much needed respite from struggle—wondering if the
figure paintings taught me something after all, even if they're not up
to snuff. I tried to work slowly, no swash-buckling strokes (but tried to
make them look like it), was judicious with a very narrow aim: just make it
look lit. It took a few tries with different color background darks to make the
lights pop but mostly it was fun!

After Collins—Take 3

Third attempt at copying Collins. Still searching for that sweet spot
between painting what you see and inventing.