Marigolds with Plum

I never thought of my marigolds as a flower to bring indoors to paint, but I needed something strong enough to stand up against a dark plum. These marigolds looked very dense to me.   My goal for this painting was twofold; first,  I wanted to work on balance in a composition.  I didn't want the heaviness of the plum to "tilt" the picture.  And second, I once heard a teacher said to one of his students to be careful with plums or they'll look like a hole in the canvas.  Well, that sounded like a challenge to me, and I've wanted to paint a plum ever since.
There are some minor issues that I'll fix later, but for now, I'm pretty happy with this painting.

Oil on linen.  6 x 6