Pome Night

Apples are fun to paint and loved working with pastels again.But oh dear, those leaves gave me real hard times.I have to admit, that I am not very fond of painting leaves.I somehow get so frustrated painting them.For this work I was also a little concerned about the background .Initially,I painted blue sky behind but then the apples did not pop up as desired.So,went with a complete black background.Any critiques and suggestions would be appreciated.

Pomegranate

A better clicked photo makes so much difference to the overall look of the painting.The previous one(below) really had a dull and a faded look.So,clicked it again this morning and here is a better version.

Held a brush after a gap of nearly ten days and felt like haven't painted for a very long time.Last week I was all busy as I had been to my parents place for celebrating Diwali together.Had a gala time with my family but did miss my paint and brush and thought I should have carried it with me.So,Diwali celebrations over and I am back with my brushes.:)
This work is a submission for the blog Paint and Draw Together.When I first looked at the reference picture I was of the opinion that this is going to be tough(well, I have such feeling before the start of each painting).The seeds looked complicated to me as all were closely packed but still, you could make out each one individually.But,while painting I realized that getting the correct texture of the skin was much more challenging than painting the seeds.This time I am satisfied with this piece but the photo I clicked doesn't show the actual colors of the painting so definitely a second click required(need to improve my photography skills too):-)