Banana: Illusion in Yellow and Blue 2

OK you asked for it! I tried to add more color in the clouds this time but it is not showing up too well in this photograph. This is the fourth piece I've done of hanging fruit in front of a sky. The influence for this little series is from two sources: The Dutch painter Juan Sanchez Cotan and surrealists Rene Magritte. I also borrowed the arched shape of the "portal" from Dutch still-life paintings most notably the florals set in arches or still-lifes in niches. Isn't this one by Bosschaert the Elder lovely of a floral set in an arched window with a small bit of landscape at the bottom http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Ambrosius_Bosschaert,_the_Elder_03.jpg

I went to see a Magritte exhibit while in high scholl at the Art Institute of Chicago and have always loved the humour in his pieces. The Dutch still-lifes are an interesting mix as they are seen as being the iconic still-life but when you look at more and more of them - the Dutch still-lifes were not shy at all about humor and especially illusions. These are a bit off from my traditional scenes of lots of white on white with just a pop of color that my most successful still-lifes resemble, but they are just plain fun and something that I will continue to play with in between my other still-lifes.

I wanted to put a link to the type of light bulbs I use in my tree lamp for my still-life reference photographs. See 2 posts ahead. I use GE Reveal light bulbs because they are supposed to filter out the yellow light you get from most light bulbs. The other reason is they are cheap and fit into a regular lamp. I really like our tree lamp which I got at Target but I also have used clip on lamps from Home Depot before.