Inspiration: Lenny's still life

I was inspired today looking at Lenny's still life in progress (second painting phase). He allowed me to take this photo (and unfortunaely, the glare on the canvas takes away from it). Some things I really liked: first, the composition. The darks are kept as a group at the back. And the lights are together in the front, joined by a triangle made up of the 3 primary colours, blue, red, and yellow. It's hard to tell this from the photo, but the sherry glass really stands out, front and center. He accomplished this by a) using a rich chroma for the sherry (actually coloured water because real wine is TOO dark to be translucent in these conditions) b) casting the shadow of the glass on the page and using soft shapes and fuzzy edges to contrast with the hard shapes of the glass itself. Finally, I admired the fact that none of his lines or shapes ever line up and so your eye travels in a pleasant way. To see what I mean, look at the books (not straight) and their top edges--different heights and on angles. Plus the globe offers circular shapes to contrast with the triangles and rectangles. A feast for the eye. And something for me to keep in mind for the future.