From the artist: Hi Johannes! Well, I finished the painting of the frosted bowl of tomatoes! I scanned the actual painting and added it to the ones I have at Photopoint, so you can see them if you have time. The scan doesn't give exact impression of painting, for instance the frosted effect is a bit stronger in the painting than shows in the scanned image.. but it is close. And the painting is bigger, I just was able to scan the center of it. Anyway, here it is, with all the others I have done since my first one in April. I did used Chinese white and opaque titanium white, and it worked well, although I had to work it quite a bit, since it was a new experiment for me.. next time I will know. Your advice was terrific and I thank you!

The Learning Gallery: Bowl of Tomatoes
Your Original	Strong Points / Intro: Yep, it worked out fine. Good job! Nice rendering of the frosted bowl!

My Modified Version

Areas to Work On: Red is a very warm color. It is a good idea to add some cool color to fruit in general to give relief. I added blue reflections on the shadow side of the tomatoes. This can be justified by pretending there is a window where the blue sky light comes in. I blurred the tomatoes in the back and left the hard edges of the large tomato on the top. I also blurred the edges of the bowl to increase the feeling of roundness and left a hard edge at the very front. All this helps the subject recede into the distance. Instead of just having spots of highlights I actually turned one of them into a reflection of an open window. This will enhance the focal point. I also put a water drop nearby on the main tomato. These two touches are good tricks of the trade. I cropped the subject so the bowl wouldn't lie in the center and added more breathing space to the side so the bowl wouldn't kiss the edge of the painting. This also helps the eye travel around the back. The space, which is the opposite of the subject, is referred to as "negative space". Even though it is less important than the positive space doesn't mean it should lack interest. Help this area by variegating colors and values otherwise it makes the space look too void. I added a wooden table. I felt the white space was incomplete and boring I added a bit more frost. That's probably the way it is in your original. :-) I darkened the shadow sides a bit more to help convey roundness.

Additional comments: From what I saw on your web page, your work is nice.  Keep it up! [ Discuss in the Art Critique Message Forum! ]