I wonder how many apples I have painted?  These small Gala’s fitted just perfectly into the beautifully crafted basket which I have to point out, is pretty tricky to paint.  The interweaving willows made me think of the Islamic patterns that I had copied in Morocco.  To add a sense of the basket’s form turning into darker space of the background simply added an extra complexity – and strings of paint colours on my palette.  But all this is eclipsed by the simplicity of the apples and particularly by the almost sculptural grace with which the single apple holds its leaves.  For me there is a feeling of it sitting in perfect space on the warmly coloured wooden board, basking in the glory of being painted.  

Oil on canvas  2015  30.5 x 36cm 12 x 14in