Still-life mini-studies

Some indoor still life studies from earlier in the year. These are the kinds of things I like to work on during the winter, as a change of pace from landscape work. The first is a head of garlic with one clove removed. The area where the clove was removed had many interesting shadows and color transitions and was the most fun to paint. Size is 6x8 inches, oil on canvas:

Study of a half-peeled tangerine. Experimenting with fading the shaded side into the dark background. This is a 5x7 oil painted on a new surface for me - a baltic birch panel primed only with shellac. I have seen this surface used by other artists and wanted to give it a try. The jury is still out...I have to try more of these.

Another tangerine, viewed from above and set on a folded piece of white fabric. I haven't painted fabric very much, so this was another experiment. It's not easy! Note that the scan has over-emphasized the reflected colors from the orange for some reason...