"Viridescent" (9x12 oil on panel) painting process

Greetings,

This painting began as a demonstration for students during one of my Still Life Composition & Painting workshops. It showed promise, so I refined it after the workshop.

detail

Here is the setup:

Some of my initial thoughts/plans:
-My focus is the right green apple. Everything else will support this decision.
-De-emphasize left apple. Neutralize values and desaturate colors.
-Isolate brightest light, darkest dark, and most intense color to on or near the focal apple.
-Light coming from left creates shadows that lead and point back to the focus. Need to alter reality and adjust values so they escalate as they approach the focus.
-Glow, glow, and more glow, because why not.

A student snapped these two early pics:

And then the next stage:

Next. This is by the end of the workshop:

Next. I continue after the workshop:

And the finished painting, "Viridescent" (9x12 oil on panel, 2014):

Yes, composition is somewhat personal because aesthetic taste is personal. But I believe there is also an objective aspect to beauty. Good composition can be taught and can be learned. Take my own progress for example--this one is from 2007, my first winter learning to paint at the Schuler School of Fine Arts in Baltimore:

"Viridescent" was painted 7 years later. What a difference 7 years of learning, working, and experimenting can make, eh?

Thanks for reading! -David

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