Mona's Pear-sold

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

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We visited San Diego over the weekend so I've missed a few days of painting and posting. Got a chance to see some great art in museums, though. This painting was done about a month ago and inspired by Duane Keiser. He had combined a Vermeer with a pear. I used a page from an old desk calendar. While painting I discovered that Mona Lisa has no eyebrows! Weird. Then recently I started reading The Secret Lives of Great Artists by Elizabeth Lunday and found out historians don't know if Da Vinci didn't paint them, multiple restorations lost them, or if the poor girl over-plucked!

Ten Minute Pears

oil on canvas panel 8x8 inches

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Last week's Daily Paintworks Challenge was to paint a simple object several times with exactly 10 minutes for each "pose". Since I'm a born fusser with an eye for detail (blessing and a curse), this is just the kind of exercise I need. Except for maybe some abdominal work! :-) I toned my canvas with a mix of alizarin & cad red medium. I stuck to the rules and quit when my timer went off. 40 minutes of fun!

Pear & Cherries #2

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

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The brilliant color against white seemed so beautiful and clean to me, but after I finished the painting I thought the white was a bit cold (even though there's yellow and orange mixed in.) Not being one to re-do when I'm finished, I left it alone and now I think I like it. The color shifts in the pear and large shadow were lots of fun.

Pear'd Up and Preschool Demo

oil on Raymar canvas panel 6x6 inches

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Yesterday I was invited to my granddaughter's preschool, where some very lucky four-year-olds are learning about famous artists and their work. When I arrived their teacher, Mrs. Haus, was talking about Mondrian and how he balanced his paintings by starting with a grid. They'll go on to study Van Gogh, O'Keefe, Monet, Picasso and Pollack. The children will later create their own little paintings inspired by these masters. Kudos to Mrs. Haus and her creative vision for these kids!

My granddaughter, Emily and I

I showed them how every color can be made with the three primaries, watercolor paper and equipment, and how we use the white of the paper instead of white paint. They really liked the word "scumble" and Mrs. Haus said she's sure they'll do some scumbling of their own. I gave them each a piece of "real" watercolor paper with a triad on it so they can paint their own triad and do their scumbling. It was SO much fun and over way too soon!

Grapes With Pear-sold

Grapes are one of my favorite subjects to paint. I love the subtle variations of translucent color, and I enjoy softening their curved edges.

oil on canvas panel 8x6 inches

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The Usual Suspects

Tomorrow I'll be out at the third annual Chino Art Festival. For you locals, it's at City Hall from 10am 'till 4pm. Come out and enjoy the amazing performances, art and lots of crafts. I'll be working on my painting for the day while showing (and hopefully selling!) my oils and watercolors. My friend, Laura Barnes will be demonstrating linoleum cutting and have her block prints and acrylic paintings on display. The festival is put on by the Chino Cultural Center Corporation, a non-profit dedicated to building a Cultural Arts Center in Chino. If you live in the area, I hope you'll come out just for the fun of it, and also to show your support for the arts in our community.

oil on canvas panel 6x8 inches

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Pear & Cherries SOLD

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches
sold
This is the second painting done in my new little 10x11ft upstairs-former kid's-bedroom- studio. It feels odd painting in there...seems like a boy should still be playing legos in there. The walls were a yellowish white which gave everything in the room a yellow glow--not good for painting! So I found a neutral made by Behr called "Gallery Taupe", and it's perfect! My work will look good on the walls, and the wall color doesn't influence color judgement. Lighting has been an issue, but I have daylight lampstands on order. Next will be shelving and a rug. My family says my art has taken over the "whole house". I just smile. At least now we can all eat in the dining room.

Pear In Silver-sold

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches
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This was a tricky one, but lots of fun. The silver mirrored just about everything in the immediate vicinity, including light coming through windowblinds, me and the back of my easel. Simplifying the reflections into large shapes helped maintain the pear as the focal point.

Pear With Black Grapes SOLD

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

This is the last in my pear series...at least for now. In my previous painting, "Just Fruit", the values are all pretty close, so I wanted to try a light surface with those lovely purply black grapes to punch up the contrast of light and dark...so here we have a loosely cruciform composition involving complementaries yellow and purple. I may make some changes to the pear, but I'm happy with the grapes.

Just Fruit-sold

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches
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What would happen if the brightly colored fruit alone were placed on a neutral earthy surface? Here it is. I added the "Black Grapes" for dots and lines. They are interesting little gems: so dark purple they look black. Sometimes you see deep crimson glowing in them. I especially like how the grapes and reclining pear turned out.

Pear Fancy -sold

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches
SOLD
The delicate color shifts in a pear are beautiful. My goal in continuing practice with pears is to be able to suggest the varied colors and still show the three dimensional form...like you could reach out and pick it up. I think I'm making progress. The teal blue and terra cotta colors in the fluted bowl seemed like a refreshingly different color scheme. The multiple highlights on the very shiny glaze give it sparkle.

On The Edge-sold

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

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There's something soothing about green. In this painting I used two different green fields to break up the negative space. The fruits all seem to be following the line between the two greens and heading toward the knife, hence the title. I'm finding that in painting pears, I have to make the bottom shadow side darker than it appears in life in order to sit that pear down firmly in my painting.

Pottery Pear

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches
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Here I've pared the pear (!) with more earthy colors. I'm a big fan of amber yellow and this is one of my favorite hand made bowls. The scalloped pattern adds interesting little tiny shapes amid the large shapes. I really liked the glow of reflected light up onto the bottom shadow side of the pear, but in trying to get that I had to carefully keep the value dark enough to read "shadow side." I'm quite happy with this one and it's cousin: Tomato & Clay, posted Sept. 16th.

Peach Pit Pear

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches
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Here I pared orange with blue (a bit bluer in person), and then added the yellow green surface to tie in with the pear... then some peach color in the pear. My tone is cad red light, orangier for the colors in the peach. Most times my photos look exactly like the painting, sometimes not. This time not! Augh! If anybody has any picture taking advice, I'm all ears!

Yellow & Red On Blue

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

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It was SO good to get back to painting after a forced break. A simple subject is a good place to start and fruit fits the bill. On a top shelf in my refrigerator the yellow and red side by side caught my eye. I love red with thalo blue, so the cloth brought in the third primary. In the next few days I'll be busy at Associated Artists' Fall Show. I'll be painting at my sales table Friday through Sunday. If you're in the area, don't miss this great show. Come on by and say hi!