I found some nice short lectures from the MFA in Boston on YouTube about John Singer Sargent’s Pomegranates and Gourds paintings, and the influence of “decoration.” He was working on a large mural at this time, and these paintings may have been in part a study in filling space without a clear focal point. On the gourds especially he uses a lot of opaque, and it’s very abstract. I started to try that out here with the flowers on the bushes in preparation for a lot more in the foreground and up the tree. Here’s where things stand tonight. It’s coming along roughly as I’d like it too, but the real fun is still to come. This will be good preparation for some plein air techniques once the weather gets better.
Thanks for reading.
Corey Aber 
Ahhhhh, very nice, Corey! i love the tiles on the roof and the entire palm, trunk as well as foliage. You’re proceeding very, very nicely. No doubt you have the plein air itch. I’m getting a little tired myself, stuck in photographs and computer flatscreens. I’m ready to get out there and paint face-to-face with my subjects again.
Thank you. Having finished it now, I learned a lot out of it that will be especially applicable to plein air, which might still be at least a month away. Thanks again for the tip on Henri. What a great influence!