Study on temptation

This painting began as an exercise on temptation, and I found myself circling around its familiar symbols—the fruit, the serpent, the vivid pull of red against green. What struck me in the process was how temptation is not only about desire but also about the tension it creates. The apple, bright and round, carries the allure of immediacy, while the smaller berries echo its call in quieter ways. Around them, the snake winds its way, not striking, but waiting—its very presence enough to unsettle.

In painting it, I realized that temptation works in layers: the obvious and the subtle, the direct and the peripheral. The brushstrokes became a kind of negotiation between attraction and hesitation—how much to reveal, how much to restrain. The fruit wanted to glow, the serpent wanted to dominate, but the leaves insisted on softening their pull.