Summer Vegetables

Looking at the date of my last entry, I can see that it has been almost two weeks since I posted anything to the blog. A pretty long time to go without painting... for me. Well, I have been painting, just not posting. Weddings, reunions and other stuff just gets in the way. Life, I suppose. My daughter is back in school now and my house guests have returned to Texas so it's time to catch up.

Last night I painted some produce that was gifted to me by my mother when I stopped at her house earlier in the week. I used a blue film over my spotlight as an experiment to simulate north light. I'm not sure it worked but it did make my carrots look awfully pale. So pale that I touched them up with some orange this morning when I took another look at it.

The reflective copper kettle is one of my favorite props and I'm getting pretty good at painting it. The very first time i painted it I spent over two hours on the kettle itself. This time I spent about two hours on the entire painting and called it done.

I started with a blue underpainting because I thought it would give the warm tomatoes and carrots a little kick. My favorite part of the painting is the onion because I spent two minutes on it and I was happy with it.

Summer Vegetables 11" x 14"

Oil on canvas

I Wish I Could Grow Stuff Like This

We all have our own gifts, and gardening is not one of mine, although I sincerely wish it was. Scott and I grew some tomatoes in pots on our patio this year and our plants were doing fairly well until I noticed some black spot on the bottom of them. I looked this up on the internet and it's something called 'blossom rot', which develops when your soil doesn't have enough calcium. The article recommended a few Tums ground up and sprinkled into the soil as a remedy. I had nothing to lose by trying and it seemed to help -- for awhile. The blossom rot returned and alas... I am starting to realize my thumb will never be green.

This time of year I like to stop at produce stands and see what they have to offer. I'm not especially interested in eating the stuff I buy. I want to paint it. I found this really awesome red onion with a long root and some awesome green peppers just a mile down the road. What reallly drew me in was the gorgeous indigo colored eggplant.

I think natural fruits and veggies make great subjects and I do tend to paint a lot of them.The reason is that I can always find a buyer and the textures of fruit and vegetables are all so unique they are excellent practice subjects. People like paintings of food. They work well in the kitchen or the dining room and if you choose the right foods and arrange them in a pleasing composition I think they're as beautiful as flowers! And actually, a lot easier to paint IMO.

Green and violet are secondary colors and they harmonize nicely. I spotlit the scene on the table in my studio and had a compelling composition right away. It doesn't take much to make me interested in producing a painting. If the light and shadow are dramatic I am intrigued every time.

Eggplant with Veggies

10" x 8"

Using Half of Your Brain

OK, maybe I was using more than half, but I think I was pretty much on automatic pilot. I painted this one last night while I half watched a movie my husband had on, so I was really using the "intuitive" side of my brain. The one that runs on auto-pilot.

I love painting peppers and tomatoes but you have to be quick because they don't last long under the spotlight. When I photographed it this morning I was surprised to find it wasn't awful. I may try to go in and clean up the type and make it readable after it dries. And one of the roma tomatoes is lopsided-- that will need to be fixed too.

14" x 18" oil on canvas

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