Still Life Painting Competition: Day Five

We're currently in the last hour of the competition...even though we're posting yesterday's progress photos.

In the last two days, several artists added some objects to their set-ups and paintings. But almost all of the artists had suitcases, boxes, and bags full of objects they didn't use. Here's a list of some of the things that didn't make the cut:

• My white taxidermy mouse. His name is Napoleon. He has a big ego. He didn't make it in because he had an attitude and was reprimanded.
• A bag of flour. It just didn't look right. I tried it out but it was too big and clunky.
• I only brought one object and I used it. People were weirded out by it at the airport.
• A $40 hunk of prosciutto from Whole Foods. It didn't seem to go with my set up. That and the pigs head (that I didn't buy).
• A coyote skull. It would have dominated the composition both physically and thematically.
• I brought variations on the objects that I used. But the mystery objects worked in my favor really well.
• A candle holder. I really wanted to paint it but it just didn't fit.
• I brought my bedside plant and didn't use it. But I when I walk into my competition space every morning at 9 my plant greets me with a feeling of home and all the growing we both have done. I didn't use it because the lavender fit better in my composition.
• A fox figurine. I remembered how hard it was to paint the last time I painted it.
• A peach branch. I was either going to go with a seafood theme or a peach theme. I went with seafood.
• Well, I had a whole second set-up that I abandoned. I just didn't like it. It was too dark.
• A portrait of Andre - a sculpture by Zoe. I had it in there on Day One but it distracted from the rat. It was a little too heavy on the right side.

Join us tonight in person from 7-9pm for our Awards Ceremony or watch the announcement of the winners live on our instagram feed. But since we're going to take higher quality photos of all the works, we won't be able to post the final images of the paintings immediately.

And now works-in-progress from yesterday, Day 5:

Day 5: Sir Mix-a-Lot

Day 5: Mealy Potatoes

Day 5: King Chroma

Day 5: Winckel Man

Day 5: Rupert Everton

Day 5: SNOC

Day 5: The Milk Carton Kid

Day 5: Nollie-Tre

Day 5: Bristles & Coffee

Day 5: The Postman

Day 5: Dedalus

Day 5: Mondavi