Back in the studio

Apart from organizing exciting activities for this year I am enjoying being back at the easel after a break due to moving houses. 
To warm up I am started with setting up a little still life for an oil painting to get back into swing. I chose a porcelain jar, a funky coconut bowl with a small copper can leaning inside and a red onion to complement the ensemble. The sometimes tricky thing of judging the values right makes me using the black mirror a lot, standing back and squint and taking a black-and-white photo at the end of each session. It's funny how much one discovers by reducing the picture onto a small screen in monochrome. It's really helping to refresh the eye and stay motivated throughout the process.