Just Apples

Lately I've been exploring the art of Quang Ho where he discusses "local tone" vs. "light and shadow"....i love the light and shadow...but I know what he means when he says many artists confuse the two...and a painting ends up being neither 'light and shadow' nor local tone...resulting in a lost painting. Today I made the effort to paint local tone. It was really difficult...but I think I did it. I set up these apples in a beautiful hand thrown ceramic bowl...and let just the natural light hit them...no additional light source. It's a real challenge to paint like that...every value and temperature has to be correct. I realized how really dark my studio is..if I don't provide additional lighting. 8" x 8" oil on canvas.