As touched as possible, as personal as possible

Ive been trying some new ideas for composition; trying to simplify where I can.  Sometimes one gets out on a limb of the unknown, which is where I feel I am now.

Over the long weekend, guests brought some wine, one bottle of which was a beautiful black  with a red seal.  I painted up two bottles to look like it.  I could have used the actual bottle,  but I wanted the Morandi paint job to add human effort to the still life: I wanted these to be as touched and modified as possible to keep them as personal as possible.

Who likes designer bones?

I took a page out of Giorgio Morandi's book and painted the bones.  I may not have the colours right.

In fact, the whole bone thing may not be working.  I wonder if the ancient Britons painted stone henge five thousand years ago?

My mangoes are now officially rotting.  They aren't going to wait for me to get the bone idea right.  The studio smells like a garbage can.

Quick, open the window.  Glad it's summer.

Fifty roses.....5

Several times during the short span of the fifty roses project, I have felt as if I have bitten off more than I can chew.  I simply don't have new ideas at that rate.

Then I remembered Georgio Morandi, who had proved such an inspiration to a painting project from earlier.

I got out the Morandi book and looked over his images to see what I could find to help with the roses project.  I got some of my Morandi bottles and repainted them grey, black and white.

I then realized that the thing to do is to meticulously arrange the bottles so the shapes and placement work well.  Then I had to light them to do the same for tonal relationship.

It has helped me move the Fifty Roses forward another step.