Always Looking

When painting still life, I've always felt it was necessary to have a reference. The best references are those that I buy at the grocery store or farmer's market and bring home. Or are they?  Recently I've been giving myself a little test. I've worked on a series of fruit and vegetable paintings. Some I have painted from a live reference and some from my mind's eye using the rules of light, shadow, and color. The question is whether or not there is truly a difference.  What do you think?  Was this orange pepper painted from reference or memory?  I'll let you ponder that and will give the answer in my next blog update, so stay tuned. The original 6x8 inch oil painting is for sale in my Etsy shop. It was created with professional grade oil paints on a stretched canvas. You can view it here. It is also available in larger sizes as a reproduction on archival paper or canvas from my website here. Click here for sizes and prices. You can also make it into a fun little throw pillow. Follow this link for sizes and prices of throw pillows.