Simply Fruit

I am in transition at the moment: my entire studio has been packed away in anticipation of some major remodeling and I have my easel set up in a small bedroom. So I am forced to work on smaller pieces. I had a few hours the other night so I set up a collection of fruit and arranged them on a cloth in front of my monitor. I love color and you really couldn't ask for more with the bright green Golden Delicious Apple, a gorgeous Mahana Red and the bright hue of the orange to the right.

I kept it loose and finished in 90 minutes.

When I paint theses little still life scenes I concentrate on observation. I don't always paint it EXACTLY as it appears. I lose some edges, exaggerate some color etc. I conciously think about how I can make it a more interesting painting.

Simply Fruit

8" x 10" oil on canvas

One Little Pear and a Couple of Plums

So this is the remaining pear, which I have placed behind a "pair" of plums! The violet color of the plums makes the (now even more) yellow of the pear really pop. Composition is important in this painting and I honestly had a lot of fun with it, mostly because I have never painted plums. So it was interesting to experiment with color and try to get that blueish haze that is so characteristic of this great tasting fruit.

This was another occasion where I had less than an hour to paint before I had to leave for work. You really have to think quickly and not "overthink" the painting when there is a limited amount of time to get it done. At least overworking is not an option. :)

What will I do when I retire and I have all the time in the world to paint? Well... maybe I just won't... it might make me lazy.This is my favorite of the entire series of March fruit paintings. They are a welcome relief as I struggle to paint two children's portraits from photos. Kids are not easy to paint- at least for me. Their skin is so delicate, their eyes so luminous and their hair so fine. I am almost at the point where I will send mom an image to view. Painting the subtle transitions in color of fruit is also great practice for painting human skin tones, so while it may seem like I'm just procrastinating, I am actually getting in some quality education time.

A Pear and Two Plums

6" x 6"

$95 unframed