I have been working on a new painting in Painter IX.5. I am painting this from scratch using a photo only for reference. I have made good progress, but I haven’t painted the stems on the apples yet nor have I figured out what to paint in place of the black background.
If you click on the picture, you’ll be taken to the gallery that contains some progressive images that illustrate the steps I took while painting this picture. I’ll be adding more as I work toward completion. Feel free to leave comments and suggestions. I’m striving for realism here, and I really don’t have much experience painting other than what I’ve figured out muddling around in my graphics programs. 
I’ve got one picture in the gallery with my first option for a background, but I’m not sure it’s going to stay. If anyone has any suggestions for a background, feel free to leave me a comment.
The final version (at least for now) is in place in that gallery. Let me know what you think.