This was my first painting on my own (no guidance from my teacher and mentor Nancy Lucas-Williams). My husband and I were living in New Mexico and it was the holidays. I wanted to find something in nature that was specific to that time of the year. In our backyard there is a juniper tree and it was loaded down with tiny blue juniper berries. I cut off a couple of twigs and put them in a vase I found at a local thrift store. 

 

The vase is gold which I thought looked very holiday-ish. And I had fun painting all the light and shadow reflected in its shiny surface. 

 

For the background I used a black cloth and positioned a single light above so that there were interesting shadows cast. In fact, those shadows were my favorite part!