Red and Green Pear

"Pear on a Dovetailed Box"

5"x 7" Oil on gessoed board.

I know, I know it's been done. But I had to put this beautiful and perfect pear on a pedestal. And I had to add a leaf - from another pear. The sad little pear with the leaf was small, spotted and not much to look at. I had picked it from a tree down the street from my home and taken some photos of it last summer. Little did it know at the time that it was to be sort of a body double for the real star someday and never make it all the way to the big stage.

Blood Orange (sort of) or Amateur Orange Peeler

"Peeled Orange"

6"x 6" Oil on gessoed board.

I do occasionally plan my daily paintings and go shopping for specific things I desire to paint. I had seen a Blood Orange in a painting that was a deep
beautiful red and seen numerous paintings in which an orange was peeled or cut in a spiral where the peeling was left in one piece. Both of these elements interested me as painting subjects and when I saw the Blood Oranges at my Kroger, well then, there was my next painting. I bought two, just in case, bought the cat litter and home I went to peel my oranges. Do I cut the skin or do I just tear it? Seen it both ways. Cutting was my first try. The end result was to be an orange peeled half way with the peeling spiraling over the table edge. My revealed orange sections looked mangled. Deep blood red and mangled. Gee, how do I fix this? I eat it. Red spots all over my face and shirt but very juicy and delicious and I'm glad I bought two. Next try using the tear method. Sections look great but peeling tears up and not in one piece. What? is this the "blood orange" the little sticker says it is? This one looks like a regular orange except it begins turning red below the point where I have peeled. Now how was I supposed to know which one was to be the "red" one? So the orange and peel are from different oranges and I couldn't really name the piece "Blood Orange" it's just not up to it's name. It's not all about painting......

Camellia Sasanqua

"Camellia Sasanqua"

5"x 7" Oil on gessoed board.

Flowers have always stopped me short of my desired outcome in a painting. This is the first one that I could finally loosen up on and see the shapes and value relationships rather than petals and details. It is certainly not the best painting I've every done but I feel a great step forward and will have more confidence in approaching the next floral still life.

It was fun just pushing the paint around with bristle brushes and leaving an "unfinished" texture to the paint. My brush was used as a "drawing" tool and I worked with gestures similar to caligraphy. The paint was layed down is a direct approach without a toned surface and without even an initial drawing. I just started painting shapes and colors and slowly made smaller shapes within shapes.

My good neighbor friend Denise came by for a visit and brought me this camellia from her very large backyard bush. We daily painters never know where our next painting will come from - sometimes they come from a knock on the door.

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Green Bowl of Cherries

"The Ayes Have It"

6.5" x 6" Oil on gessoed board.

I quess I've been watching and listening a little too much to politics lately making this title pop into my head. Unfortunately what is being voted on currently is NOT a bowl of cherries. But this painting makes me happy. I kind of felt like a Carol Marine groupie painting this. She is so great at cherries and this kind of chisel approach to shapes and negative spaces. Once again I lament the failure of my monitor to show the actual deep red tones. The cherry shadows are a deep Alizarin Crimson.

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Persimmon and Leaf

"Persimmon and Leaf"

6"x 9" Oil on stretched canvas.

This was one of those "STOP THE CAR" moments. Blocks down the street upon entering Mom and Dad's neighborhood, I could see a tree loaded with bright yellow fruit. I didn't know for sure what they were, but I knew they were good to paint if not to eat. Once again I "stole" a snipping from a stranger's yard. Bad me. Actually I had my hubby do the dirty deed with his trusty pocket knife.

After doing a search to make sure it was a persimmon, I found that this variety is the American one. The Japanese variety is shaped more like a tomato. What you hear about the pucker effect is true! Keep away from children and don't try this at home....

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