Shay wrote:

> 
> _____Oranges:
> My favorite of the group by far. The way in which the objects are placed
> tells me that they are not in their usual positions. The objects are all
> Asian, but the obvious effort behind their being assembled shows that
> the owner of the objects is not. The impression I get here is of a woman
> 's invitation to a man for a romantic Asian dinner, the peeled orange
> suggesting an only partially veiled sexual invitation. The tone and
> again the obvious care behind the placing of the objects shows that the
> man receiving the invitation will see an Asian dinner as exotic. A pot
> roast would not be displayed this way.
> 
> The only thing distracting me (OK, bothering the Hell out of me) in this
> picture is the cup's being partially out of frame. This element is too
> natural for such an unnatural "composition."
> 
> 

You have been very generous!  Your reactions to "Oranges" is intriquing 
on a couple of counts.  The image was originally inspired by a line from 
the Leonard Cohen song "Suzanne".  Cohen was talking about a type of tea 
with dried orange skins in it but I always pictured a simple repast of 
tea and peeled oranges offered, in the song, to male visitors.  The song 
is of course intensely erotic with its hints of virgin love.  Secondly, 
I have probably painted five hundred still lifes of varioius domestic 
scenes and objects, many of table settings, many of shoes, and I could 
probably count on my fingers the number of them that have objects 
cutting the edge of the picture frame.  So I'm not sure why I did that. 
  The picture was supposed to feature a peeled orange which I'd modelled 
with a macro using multiple blobs placed along splines.  But I had to 
exclude it because the final render was taking too long.  Its presence 
might have caused me to run the cup off the edge.  Not sure anymore, but 
as it stands now, I have to agree, it weakens the effect of the composition.
Maybe I just never resolved whether I wanted it to look casual or arranged.
May also have to do with the fact that I wasn't working from a 
prearranged model.

Thanks again for taking the time.

-Jim

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