[^ Lime with Pink Bottle. oil on panel. 5x7". 2013. © Bullock Online 2013]
"There is no better subject than a still-life for working out ideas about painting. It is the one subject that is completely under one's control; provided that the materials aren't perishable, it can be continued day after day under exactly similar conditions, and the arrangement and choice of subject are entirely up to you."
- Bernard Dunstan, Learning To Paint (1970)
These small oil sketches really help me to work through ideas, compositions, shapes, and to gauge colors and values. I have not translated any of them up into larger 'finished' works yet because of space limitations, but just working through these small pieces and having a result in one or two sittings is really helpful.
In this I wanted to sort of sidestep a complimentary color relationship, and aimed more for a pink than a red, placed opposite a bright, banging green. Accurately rendering the shape of the lime was important because I did not want it to be identifiable only by its color.
