Painting Plums and changing cloths

Fun to be painting big again; just finished this last week. I like the tried and tested relationship of the greens with the reds and the fantastic colors in the striped tablecloth!

Plum and Tulips on striped tablecloth
36 X36     Acrylic on wood

Often times I find the trick to painting, is to keep the energetic loose feel of a painting 'alive' despite the fact that the painting may have had to undergo some redesign.  In the case of this painting I struggled with the tablecloth design. This I feel is a common struggle within still life painting, the question of how best to convey the pattern, whether to leave the design in, or omit it? Sometimes as the journey of a painting unfolds a new direction is needed, the end result should hide all of that struggle.

 in-progress

Within this painting I attempted to keep  the original material design; in the end I came to realize a simpler approach was needed. You'll notice the detail image above, on the right shows the transition between the two designs. I realized I had designed strong horizontals and verticals, so the idea came to me that using another tablecloth that included stripes could be very effective. I'm glad I did, this design leads the eye up into the subject and reinforces the edge of the table beautifully.

detail

I like the placement and perspective of this jug.

detail of final tablecloth

Compare this detail to the image further up, to illustrate how the right design element can make all the difference.