"Still Life with Fruit" - oil on masonite. This one was made specifically to fill the frame which I found in my parent's front closet. They got it about 40 years earlier from an attic in an old house. My wife posed fruits on a table and I photographed them and picked the winning "pose". Then it was a matter of translating from the ugly lighting and surroundings of the table, to try to make a nice painting out of it.

Some aspects of this painting came out very good but overall I am not sure that I like it, perhaps too strident or still too brightly lit. The pear is very lifelike, solid looking. The banana looks pretty real. The coloration in the apple just right of center is perfect, though - I think it compares to any still life anywhere. The blue jars on the right are neat with their "chiaroscuro" but I struggled with the pitcher. The candle was not as translucent as I wanted. The place mat and background coloration was a struggle too. I never found a good example of lace to look at and paint for the place mat so I made something simple up.

At my wife's request I added creatures to the painting like they used to have in the old master paintings. I challenge people (live, not here - not enough resolution) to find the 4 ants, bee, moth and lizard in the painting.