Still life in the ol' Still Life

When I was little I thought still lifes were boring. My drawings were full of people in action, often riding horses or climbing trees, and sometimes fleeing from villains in grand adventures. My teen drawings were full of angsty sad faces looking poetic and mysterious as they gazed into a dreamy distance. Later in college, I still thought still lifes were boring in art classes when the teacher would pile some random objects on a table and have us draw them. Over and over. From all angles. Again and again. I understand why, of course. It was the equivalent of eating your vegetables before you get dessert. It was good for you. It taught you to look closely at shapes, at shadow and light, at form defined by light, at textures, at perspective and scale and all those other aspects of design important to an artist. So I've surprised myself lately by giving myself a painting-a-day project just to stay in practice, to stay loose and flexible, to turn off my analytical, judging brain and just play. And Voila! Most of my splashing and doodling has turned into still lifes.(Media: acrylic paint, acrylic ink, brush pen and India ink, and a section of a Lego castle floor brushed with paint to print some fun dot patterns.)
Most of the examples below were done from my head, no actual still life models in sight. Although I did bring in a lemon to look at. I do like lemons. And I am sorry the lemons are sideways. I have tried every technique to make them upright and they won't respond. The original image is upright so I don't know why my blog image uploader is fighting me.

Oh well, bombs away, lemons!

I did this little piece a number of months ago. Now it belongs to a friend in Florida who really wanted it. I love it when my art finds a good home.