Grapes of Cash by Sue Taylor

From the Artist: I have been painting still life paintings of wine bottles, playing with the light play on the glass, when your project challenge began my thinking on the starting of the wine process. The project asked us to consider the light source and framing, which caused the close up view of the grape clusters in my mind and then the light highlighting just some of the grapes. It was a fun project so now I have begun a painting with both bottles and fruit as a result.

From the Painting Guide: It's always pleasing to hear that someone's had fun with a project's challenge! As I've said elsewhere, one of the intentions of the monthly projects is to encourage people to try something different or new, because you never know where it might take you.

Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
Light: I think there's a beautiful sense of light in this painting, of sunlight sifting through the vine leaves. Bunches of grapes take some patience to paint as each grape is a sphere that needs its own range of tones, plus the effects of shadows of the bunch overall.

Composition: The two vine branches make very strong diagonals in this painting's composition. I'm undecided whether the bottom one adds to the composition or is a distraction. Cover it up with your hand and you'll see the composition has quite a different feel.