Getting ready - setting up a still life practice

Today's blog is a little long. So many people have said they enjoy seeing the progress pictures, so I decided to share a little bit more of what I go through in setting up a daily painting practice still life. For the background - just two canvases taped together. Then I choose a color for the background.
My friend Darren Maurer told me about using these sheets of colored paper. They are scrapbooking pages. They come in every color and many patterns.The mistake here is always tone the panel first before drawing. Once I began painting the background, the drawing was wiped away. I should have stopped here, sprayed it with fixative and waited. That's why they call it daily practice!
Here's my set up. One word of caution, be careful with placing your tea cup near the turps....yes, I have ....more than once.
My son snuck in behind me and snapped this photo. The artist in action( or is it inaction?)
You can see I deliberately made the background a brighter yellow.
Even though I signed it I made some changes afterwards. (What does that say about me?) Today is so dark and rainy I need to wait for the sun to get enough light to photograph the finished piece.

Anyway, here's my self critique:
I like the arrangement and colors. The three bottles remind me of three women having a conversation in the kitchen. This was the first time I painted on a gessoed panel I purchased. It was so smooth I had a difficult time controlling the brush work. I'll need to practice more with this type of panel. I can see it has a place for finished work with a lot of detail. Canvas is much more forgiving.