Here's a still life I completed yesterday. Suggestions and feedback appreciated.

Hey Jim!  Hope things are great in Seattle.  I miss the west coast.  The ceramic vessel the flower is in is a japanese sake container, I believe..  it's an opaque dark color - and highlights play off of it in sometimes dramatic fashion.    I can see where a viewer might want transparency because we are so used to seeing  flower and vase theme.     I hadn't htought about that but it's good to hear your thought.

Hi Jim,

I agree with a previous writer that the white strip on the edge of the table should go, and I do think that only 3 mums is kind of skimpy.  The mums are well done but we need more of them.

Phil

Thanks for your comments - it seems like everyone wants more mums.   Actually these 3 flower heads fell off the original plant and instead of disposing of them I thought they looked interesting and created a contrast between the odd-shaped japanese ceramic and the flowers themselves.  I was sorta going for a subtle, non-idealized arrangement of the subject.   I agree the tape may be a bit distracting.  I wanted to include the tape as an element to make the still life get away from the traditional set ups.

I do see the hairs you;re speaking about and that right now is caused by the wipe away i did of the background.  I'll probably go in and touch that up.