Exercise 5 Drawing in Paint

For this exercise I wrote more notes than usual in my sketchbook. Early experiments with composition didn't seem to work. I felt I also needed to be positioned somewhere I could have materials to hand and be relatively comfortable. Anyhow, when I finally made a choice of composition they were ornaments in a corner of a window sill, so I don't think they look too contrived. However available space to move objects around in different positions was quite restricted. At the same time I wanted to take advantage of what possibilities for the negative spaces were available to me. The bird which was one constant almost throughout my preparatory work, was something I couldn't move around much as I want it to appear as though looking out of the window.
Throughout the sketches and preliminary drawings I tried to retain a constant position during each, relative to the object to try and reduce the riskk of distortions caused by moving. I marked the floor around the easel and around the front of my feet. I don't think I fully understood what exactly was required from this exercise. I got the impression that the aim was partly to produce a painting emphasising linear aspects. But I couldn't see any mention of inclusion of tone or form, so I decided to include it anyway right or wrong.
Using acrylics I drew in the objects outlines with a fine brush in dilute raw umber on a tinted ground of raw umber.
I continued with the remainder of the painting using oils, roughly applying darkest tones first, then the lightest. During in this painting I felt inhibited most of the time and I had the urge to loosen up my technique but was unable to. Alas this is nothing new..

It wasn't long before the lines around contours completely disappeared under the thicker paint. I meant to re-assert them at the end but couldn't build up enough confidence, not to mention enthusiasm. The peachy orange on the surface to the right, I think is too bright and overpowering and needs toning down. Overall, I was disappointed with the final result, considering all the preparation work I'd done for this. Now that some considerable time has passed since I completed this painting, I feel aforementioned extras  need to be done to improve matters and perhaps help to give me another perspective on it.
There is an example of a very flat still life by Picasso on this link. I find the effect intriguing and I would like to try out the technique sometime soon..

Picasso's Dish of Pears is located towards the end of this link's page: