Onions, garlic & fruit - still life by Ria (Cropped Version)

Would you believe that at one point Ria considered this beautiful little painting a failure?  While adding her finishing touches, she inadvertently applied a colour she didn't want just under the bowl.  The more she tried to adjust it, the muddier it became, until she finally declared the whole thing a loss and cast it aside. Months later, she rediscovered it and we looked at it again together.   The first thing that that hit me was how effectively she conveys texture in this picture --- her fruit appears positively succulent, the onions smooth and tender, the garlic,  crisp and papery.  The areas in light are well modelled and thrown into relief by the areas in shadow.  And the colours are clear and transparent --- except, Ria lamented, for that muddy area below the bowl.   And that area, she felt, basically ruined the picture.   Well, I said, why don't you crop it?   You could cut off  the bottom of the page, removing the base of the bowl along with the offending smudge below.  If you do this, you might want to balance it by cropping the right side of the paper as well.  The result will be a closer view of the subject (see  the picture above) but as a  composition, I think it works very well.   Have a look and tell us, what do you think?