Still Life Watercolor Painting

I did this painting as a demonstration for the Louisville Art Center in Louisville Colorado in preparation for a still life workshop that I am doing there September 22, 23, and 24. I had one hour to complete the painting so I was working really fast. I was answering questions from the audience at the same time so I was forced to use both sides of my brain. Painting under a time restriction can be challenging and fun at the same time and I was happy with the results. I was intent on keeping the colors clean and crisp so I had to make sure my palette was clean and I had to gage the drying time of the different colors. I wanted some of the colors to merge together, such as the apple and the pear and the objects with their cast shadows, so working wet into wet was important. I was reminded of Paul Cezanne and how he spent hours arranging the objects for his gorgeous still lifes and days painting them and I couldn’t help wandering if he ever did painting demonstrations.