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Going Bananas

I painted a bunch of ripe bananas today. Tried to go back to basics, and paint masses of color, so i desperately tried not to think "banana" while i painted. I was only partly successful in that. Composition wise, i should have moved the bananas more to the left so that i had more room to play with the shadows. So here is #7 in my quest to improve my alla prima skills and ready myself for plein air painting.

Number Six

When i first did this one, i really liked it. Now i'm not so sure. Now i see all those things that i didn't succeed in rendering. But part of the reason i first like it was the somewhat abstract quality. Well, go figure.

Vegies for a Change

Yes, i switched from fruit to veggies for this fifth painting.

Not sure what i think about this painting. I guess i'll have to wait a couple of days and look at it again. Right now i am uncomfortable with it, but don't know why. It has an unfinished quality, but that's not necessarily bad. It does seem a bit simplistic, but then i've been told that its not good to explain everything, that you should leave something for the viewer to finish. Anyway, just for comparison here is a photo of the still life.

PS I wonder if the painting is what my teacher calls "symbolic", that is painting what you think you see instead of what you see?