Introducing "Appletini", the latest painting in my martini series to leave the easel.  "Appletini" is a 20"x16" oil painting on panel.  As you may imagine this painting was somewhat tedious to paint with all the ribbon stripes, especially as many of the stripes along the table top are in shadow, but I had such fun with the symmetry of the composition.  The original setup did not include the apple slices or scrabble tiles on the table top, but as I was closing in on the finish of the painting I realized it needed something more.  It is always a challenge adding objects after the fact in a still life setup due to the task of getting the lighting and shadows the same as in the rest of the painting.  But...who doesn't love a challenge!