Driftwood

Our first assignment in painting class is always a still life. Our teacher sets up a table full of junk and we have to pick something and paint it. Since I missed the first day of class, I got stuck with the driftwood. There was an old spoon hanging on it. Lovely. I tried to make the most of it.
Roots of an old tree can be kindof exciting, I'll admit. When Mike and I went to the Sequoia Ntnl Forest in CA, there were some pretty awesome roots!
So I painted it. Here's my end result. I didn't want to paint the cloth or teapot that sat behind it in the classroom, so I substituted a branch-y plant. I like it much better this way. I have enough paintings of fabric and stuff from previous classes. And I'm a little frustrated at my photo because of the glare from the sun in the upper left corner. It's distracting to me. I suppose I can try again later.
What do you think of my interpretation of driftwood?