Five Canvases Worth Driving For This Fall

Every Tuesday morning, we unpack the week's new canvases and lay them out on the front table before they hit the wall. Fall is our loudest season, and this year the deliveries have been especially good.

The staff started keeping a running list of favorites. Here are the five we keep going back to, the ones we'd start tonight if we didn't already have four projects on the go.

1. Melissa Shirley's harvest still life. Deep umbers, a chipped ceramic pitcher, and one lemon that catches the light. Beg for silk here.

2. A Colonial Needle terrier in a barn coat. Undeniably a portrait of somebody's dog. We already have two on hold.

3. Kate Dickerson's foggy Bethesda street scene, quiet, low-contrast, and a masterclass in shading with wool.

4. A Purl & Daisy ornament trio: a persimmon, a pomegranate, and a very self-serious pear. Finished as three, hung as a group.

5. And one wild card, a Charley Harper cardinal we're not supposed to have yet. Come see it before it's spoken for.