In the Bag

I am not done but will show you where I am at and tonight or in the morning I will finish it and post the final right here with this one I think...unless there is more I want to say.
I have to redefine some of the openings between the boards which I have begun, clean some edges and check a few values in areas. I hope that I can feel ok about this one and move on to number three of the pears.
Trying a landscape in the background was nerve wracking especially since I do not do them and then I chose to do autum to keep the coloring the same through out the picture. When we have those clear days each tree is so clearly defined that it was not an option to do them softly blurred. Also that would have appeared almost like a different painting in the background. I do like the idea so now with that in mind I will be taking pictures of things that might be possible backdrops for other still life works...I think it is one way to solve that problem of the background without resorting to dark....or nothing...those are too simple of solutions. So this test has shown me a few ideas I think...and I used an old brush with jagged edges to just drag the wood grain in...it took about 15 minutes! So that was fun and using this tape for edges was new...also the masking for me is something I rarely have used so am trying to get use to it. It does have some draw backs...but more practice might help.

Will post the final tomorrow!