Yawning At Fruit

Again, I was experimenting with traditional forms and techniques when I made "Yawning At Fruit." Fruit as a subject has been painted innumerable times in the history of art, but paired with wild cats... I'm guessing not as many times. I thought it was funny to have the kitties almost attacking the fruit, but I realized at some point that the reference images I was using were of tigers yawning... It's probably not appropriate to admit it, but I think I was kind of "yawning" myself at the idea of painting a still life of fruit. The style I used for the felines was inspired by traditional Japanese painting, but I can't say that the technique was in any way faithful or accurate to that inspiration. All that said, this painting ended up weirdly becoming a favorite of mine.