Daily Painting Practice - Quince

I am back to feeling 100%. Thank you to all that sent me the get well comments.

Our house in Omaha has a very large beautiful flowering bush in the front yard. It gets covered with brilliant orange flowers that grow on branches with sharp thorns. I think I have it identified as a flowering quince. I clipped a few branches last year and made this arrangement with this vase. I love the solid silhouette and the contrast with the linear quality of the quince branches. That's ivory black brushed over the pre-toned background.
I should have been playing Asian music in the background when I was painting this. Instead I had on Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughn. Did you know Frank Sinatra was an (oil painter)?

click on the picture to enlarge the image

Quince Flowers in an Oriental Vase
6"x6"
oil on masonite

SOLD

I really like the atmosphere in this little painting. The success of this picture depended on the soft edges. I have read that edges can be soft or hard or lost and found. I kept the edges harder at the top of the vase and softer and lost at the bottom. That keeps your eye focused at the top and then allows it to travel across the branches. I think one of the best ways to keep the viewer's interest in a painting is not to outline everything but to let the viewer's eye and brain put the pieces together.