Copper Kettle, Apple and Chain

Oil on Canvas Board 8.75 x 10.5 in (22 x 27 cm)

My contribution to the Rookie Painters February challenge.  We were presented with a ravishing couple of photos to choose from -- objects sensitively selected and cunningly arranged to form a striking composition.  An engrossing challenge, indeed.  I found the reflections in the copper kettle and of course all those links in the chain, the most difficult.

Unicorn Cushion

Oil on canvas board 9,5" x  12"

Was the unicorn of legend based on memories of an extinct Eurasian rhinoceros?  If so, that's a far cry from it's acceptance as a symbol of purity and grace, an animal which could only be captured by a virgin.

Fantasy Landscape

Oil on Canvas Frame 13 x 16 in (33 x 41 cm)

I think underpainting in yellow ochre and burnt sienna helped the illusion of reflecting water, here.  Must experiment more with underpainting colours.

Dwellers in a Spanish Antique Shop

Oil on Canvas Board 10.5 x 14 in (27 x 35 cm)

This is a window looking in on the dwellers of the antique shop.  They look out on a narrow, sloping street in the old Gotic quarter of Barcelona, a street down which the thirteen-year old Visigothic Christian girl, Eulalia, was rolled in a knife-studded barrel on the 12th February, 304; before submitting to crucifixion, breast amputation and, finally, decapitation -- the price exacted by the Emperor Diocletian, enraged at her steadfast refusal to renounce Christianity.

Or so goes the legend.  Many statues and streets in the city are named after her.
P.S. The original for last post's 'Backside'? -- an early work by Picasso, in the Picasso Museum, Barcelona.

Backside

Oil on Canvas Board 7 x 9.5 in (18 x 24 cm)

The original, a postcard of which I used to paint this, is an early work by a famous 20th century artist. Hints;  He was born in Spain but lived mostly elsewhere. He worked in tandem with Georges Braque for a time, then took another path.  At one point in his career he obsessively collected African masks and figurines.

Kitchen Scene at the Cottage

Oil on Canvas Board 7 x 9.5 in (18 x 24 cm)

A holiday scene, and a holiday from perspective.

Musing Miss

Oil on Canvas 9.5 x 12 in (24 x 30 cm)

One works from photos these days, photos or the memories of photos, one's own and others'.  Even with all the unemployment everywhere, the vocation of model is not in vogue; and the independent artist who is not famous is as likely to set eyes on one as on an albino snail, or even a hobgoblin.  What is lost  (besides a possibly pleasant relationship) in this dependence on a double two-dimensionality, I wonder? Or gained (apart from convenience, and less expense)?