off season

This poor plant has been sitting on our cabinet all winter wishin' spring would come. It has a hole or 2 eaten in the leaves and a stub of a stem going nowhere. But the greens of the plant and the pot, and the white and black of the dish and handwork make for good contrast and subtle color variations.  Of course the stretch of the leaves to the side give the piece a sense of direction it might otherwise not have...
The plant is insignificant, but the handwork came from our parents
I think, and the octagonal bowl was given us by a neighbor.  The painting was done on the 23rd of January, or maybe finished that day.  It was done in a Canson Montval pad of a 9" x 12" format. This was the first use for me of this paper. I like the way it works, though the jury may be out on how quick it is, or how well it takes abuse.

Below are the preliminary studies which for some reason in this case I seem to have way overdone; I did some studies of the shape of the bowl, as well as of the overall layout and shading.