rotting peaches

As part of my project to find images that symbolically show the interconnectedness of life and death I have done a few studies of a rotting peach. I thought this would be a good way to show the over-ripeness of summer, abundance tipping over the edge into decay, which will decompose into the soil and begin another cycle of life.
To make a study of this, I let a peach gently rot on my windowsill for as long as I could bear it, cut it open and then quickly drew it. {I had to use creative license on the maggots!}
The drawing on the left is just a slightly bruised peach, but the one on the right is the full deal.



These were both done in pencil and pastel and chalk. I think the chalk works well to capture the dusty grey mould that formed on the peach's skin, but perhaps oil pastels would work better for the juicy, shiny inside flesh. Looks like I'll have to rot another one and find out!
Ultimately I'd like to try and combine this image with the roses to form a kind of victorian still life, if I can make it work.