A couple still lifes

I have never been a fan of still lifes. They have always reminded me of art classes at school and I have tried to distant myself from them. Last couple days the weather hadn't been nice for painting outside and I have been reading the book "Alla Prima" by Richard Schmid. He dedicated a chapter on Edges. Edge is always something I was aware of but not paid attention to. Looking at his paintings you will see that he pays a tremendous amount of attention to them from studying his subject. The book has motivated me to better my ability to see.

So I decided to do some still lifes, since the light is more controlled (indoor with window light) and I am more comfortable to paint slower. As you can see from the photo these are tiny. (5" x 7")

The first one is our Cyclamen plant. I forced myself to study every edge in front of me, figure out whether it's soft or hard, and make a decision to address it.

Cyclamen study - oil on panel - 5" x 7"

Did another one the day after. These were exhausting, I spent more time painting them than I usually on the bigger 9"x12"s. I think they took about almost 4 hours each. They were exhausting because I had to pay so much attention to every stroke I did. I still painted over certain areas multiple time, instead of getting them right the first time. These exercises of learning to see better have been really helpful and I hope to do more.

Study of dove on fabric - oil on panel - 5" x 7"