STILL LIFE?

Now that I have some time to play around a little bit, I've been doing a lot of blog reading. I'm always looking for oil painters willing to talk about their process, especially those who have been classically (or otherwise) trained. It's a great resource to pick up tips and discover things I may not have stumbled upon on my own, and to hear what other artists are going through, who they're influenced by, etc.  there are a ton I read on a regular basis, and it's really been invaluable (it's the main reason I feel obligated to write about my own process so much, kind of a 'pay it forward' type situation, for lack of another stupid phrase). I'll do an entry on the blogs that I read sometime in the near future if you care to check them out (and you should), but for the time being, I told that story so I could tell this one:A lot of the blogs I follow are written by realist artists, and during a particularly long trip down the internets, I came across some really fantastic still-life paintings. i'm not huge on the still-life genre in general (is it a genre?), mainly because regardless of the execution, I need something interesting to look at. I can certainly appreciate the artistry of a painting of a bowl, and I admire the simplicity...but I tend to also get bored with it before any of that appreciation actually kicks in. so anyway, I found some nice ones...very well painted and of interesting subject matter that held my attention. It was then that it occurred to me that I have another glaring hole in my self-education, and a rather embarrassing one actually; I've never painted a still-life. not even for practice.  It seems totally neglectful of me, and while I know i'm being critical, and that I am a figurative painter,  I also know that I probably should have been experimenting with them for years. not because all oil painters need to paint still-life's, but because I'm fairly certain that most probably do at some point (and probably very early in their learning to boot). there has to be some reason for that right?.

so, given all that rambling you just suffered through, and the fact that painting anything outside of my comfort zone is generally a good idea, I started on my first still-life -- and you know what? totally fun. here is the final product (excuse the glare). I'm going to title this "Still Life #1", because I am the most creative guy on earth.