Pear Pair [oil, 6”x6”]

A pair of red pears – except there are many, many colors in these “red” pears.  Violet shadows, green, yellow and white highlights, 4 different pigments of red…  all rolled into 2 little pears. 

I’m sure enjoying painting these little guys!  I’m using baltic birch panels sealed with GAC100 and tinted with an orange/red.  The warmth peeks through in places and unifies the whole.  Enjoy!

Still Green [oil, 6”x6”]

I’m back to studying the colors and shapes of fruit.  I took on this little pear today.  Even though it sat on a purple fabric, the light reflected back into the pear was orange!  The purple behind the pear took on a reddish cast that offset the green of the pear nicely.  Ciao!

Fruit Trio (10"x7")

I think this may take a better photo tomorrow in the daylight but I wanted to post this tonight. I miss the long daylight hours we have had over the summer. I hadn't realized how much I was depending on it to get decent lighting for these photos.

I've been feeling a bit stuck with painting for the last few days. I have lots of ideas but I'm having a hard time deciding what to paint NOW... Lots of the ideas seem like I'm not quite ready for them. Fruit on the other hand... well, I just love painting it. The red pear turned out to be quite a challenge today.

I started this painting off by doing a gamboge wash from left to right over all three pieces of fruit but covering only part of the centre of the red pear. Then, while that was still wet I rounded out the rest of the left pear with reds, quin magenta and ultramarine blue. Then I dropped ultramarine blue and some azo yellow into to the green pear... as that dried a bit I darkened the top of the banana with a wash varying colors from blue to red in the centre and then green gold toward the right side. As the paint mingled on the paper I lifted out highlights on the pears... softening the edges of the white highlight on the green pear. then a few spots on the banana and the green pear needed a few burnt sienna speckles. After I was satisfied with the fruit, I washed in the shadows with ultramarine blue, violet, and some cobalt... with just a touch of quin gold... it was fun watching things flow as it dried. At the end I added some darks on the stems of the fruit and the side and tip of the banana.

I definitely didn't stick with my original color scheme but I kind of like the result... Enjoy!

Salsa Thoughts (10"x14")

I just needed to set up a still life and paint from it. I have this neat pewter cup - a remnant of my days at Arthur Anderson. I set this arrangement up, rearranged a few times and then sketched from life. Now, two days later I pulled out the tomatoes and set it up for painting. The challenges with this painting were the colors of the pewter cup... reflections in the cup seemed to be quite green. I like how this one turned out. It's very kitcheny and I'm excited to get it framed and hung.

This painting has a split complementary color scheme. The green bottle and leaves on the tomato are compliments to the red tomatoes. The oranges in the blinds and the drapery are complimented by the blue's in the cup and in the folds of the drapery. This was fun to do - still life is beginning to be a favourite subject of mine. I enjoy relating the items together, looking for good negative shapes, and watching the paint do it's thing.

Blessings to all... And welcome to Maverick John Coppola, born yesterday in Gilbert, AZ. Proud parents are Christa (my neice) and John Coppola, Proud big sister is Tula Belle 14 months old! All are well and looking very happy!

Fat Fruit On Lace (7" x 5 1/2")

Just a simple painting of simple subjects... fat fruit. A plump plum and two very plump pears. Tomorrow I eat them...

Session 1: After I got the fruit arranged into a pleasing triangle composition I sketched them directly onto my watercolor paper. Since the light was stable I didn't take reference photos - something new for me.

I began on the pears by loosely painting yellows in and around them. Then I dropped in scarlet lake, cobalt blue and bits of violet. I also lifted out the highlights before it dried. On the plum I began with diox violet washed in loosely around the highlights and I immediately dropped in some cobalt blue and some burnt sienna to dull it just a bit. I softened the edges of the highlights and around the stem dent. Then I watched to make sure the soft edges stayed soft as it dried.

Session 2: I darkened and moulded the pears by glazing more warm yellow and dropping in the reds, blues, and burnt sienna... keeping the edges of my whites soft and lifting out some new highlights. The plum... I did the same colors as in session 1 but this time I kept inside the lines. Also, I extended the size of the plum on the bottom and inside.

I decided I wanted to add the lace detailing and it was as simple as negatively painting the holes in the lace and the shadows cast. I think the lace added something to this one

Hope you like it...

Watermelon sketches (5"x5" each)

I found a nice hollow sounding seedless watermelon at Co-op this week and we devoured it today. I enjoyed eating it so much that I decided to do a couple of small studies to explore the subject - my primary interest was the color and texture of the flesh.

The reflection on the knife fascinated me BUT it wasn't quite so vicious looking as these turned out. The placement of the knife in the sketches is such that a reflection of mostly green with just a tiny bit of red placed properly would have been a big improvement. Freud might have had a grand old time interpreting these sketches.... lol!

Until tomorrow....