Day 19 - Red Apple

Today is Day 19 of the 30 in 30 Day Challenge!

I went shopping yesterday and bought a bag of these beautiful apples...to eat...but I decided to paint one too.

The change in still life setup is giving me an added interest changing things up a bit for me.  I am not a creature of habit, so this is working for me.  I am happy to be able to use my larger brushes and concentrate on value.

"Red Apple"

6 x 6 - oil on canvas panel

According to Wikipedia, here are some interesting facts about the apple:

• Basic research suggests that apples may reduce the risk of colon cancer, prostate cancer and lung cancer. Apple peels contain ursolic acid which, in rat studies, increases skeletal muscle and brown fat, and decreases white fat, obesity, glucose intolerance, and fatty liver disease.

• In the United States, it was once tradition to bring an apple to the teacher on the first day of elementary school.

• Apples appear in many religious traditions, often as a mystical or forbidden fruit. One of the problems identifying apples in religion, mythology and folktales is that the word "apple" was used as a generic term for all (foreign) fruit, other than berries, but including nuts.

• In Greek Mythology, the apple was considered to be sacred to Aphrodite, and to throw an apple at someone was to symbolically declare one's love; and similarly, to catch it was to symbolically show one's acceptance of that love.