Evolution of an Image- A Mug with Marbles

I posted some preliminary paintings of this composition last Fall, but I knew early on I wanted to do more with it, and stretch the image to show something both very tight and glass-like, and yet also something loose and explosive.

The first go was on an 1/8 sheet.  Too small, really, to do the glass much justice.

The mug was much bigger on the second one, but it was still on a 1/8 sheet.

The third one was a similar composition, but on a 1/4 sheet.

By then, I felt like I had a handle on how to paint it, and so, around the new year, I expanded it a 1/2 sheet.

I wanted to get the paint to sort of explode, which I got, but, after the fact, I recognized that I was a bit more interested in seeing the "mug" dissolve, not the whole painting.  So, on the next iteration, I spent more time planning out the sequence of layers.

I wanted to keep the horizon line solid, to keep a sense of a ground plane, separate from the mug itself.  I also did a great deal more work with a smaller synthetic brush, instead of the squirrel mops, particularly on the glass. The dissolving marbles I did last, in one go.