Another of the still lifes I've completed as part of my portfolio application a grad school medical illustration program, painted with water-soluble oils on a paper-based matt board.  (It was an interesting combination of materials, and I actually rather liked it.)  I purposefully used perishable subject matter, in order to force myself to paint quickly.  That didn't quite happen, but I did paint the objects in the order that they spoiled.  (The banana went first, then the tomato, then the pumpkin, etc.)  The cloth underneath is a pillowcase, and the two fields of blue in the background are two painted canvases propped up side by side.

(Oh, and the book is a compilation of Irish myths and legends.)