Pumpkin

Each shopping trip for my still life class -- for weeks --  resulted in a growing collection of gourds. They piled up in the kitchen, in the back seat of my car, in my studio.  Obviously, at least one was meant to make it onto the canvas. And, other vestiges of still life class -- brilliant, curly-petaled orange tulips in a favorite vase (made by Laura Nichols of PigPen Pottery), purple grapes and an old school chair joined the scene. I'd mentioned to my students on Tuesday that they would probably find me there late that night, painting away, since this view called pretty loudly. They could have.

This is a painting that deserves a close-up, since a great deal of the action is in the brushstrokes.

Close-up of "Pumpkin"