Speed Painting

A Quick Pear study-- Yes I have a pear tree and it is bearing fruit-- which I love. You can learn a lot from spending an hour painting from life- set a timer it helps.

6" x 8"

Painting Pears Again

I had a few minutes this morning so I decided to paint some more pears. They are a favorite around here. (Both to paint and to eat).

I try to limit the time to an hour for these small pieces, both as a challenge for myself and to keep from overworking them.

Pears with  Dutch Pitcher

Limited Palette

The last time I posted pear paintings on the blog I had a couple emails from people asking me about my palette and what colors I use. It's hard to say after the fact because I don't have more than 5-6 favorites and I am constantly adding different ones to make mixes more interesting. But there are certain colors that are just "standard" for me. I mean I can always depend on them and they are always in my paint box even if I don't use them.

Those colors are cad yellow light, cadmium scarlet or cadmium red light, yellow ocher, ultramarine blue and alizarin permanent or rose madder. (Notice there is only one earth color on that list and I don't really need it because I could mix it- it;s more of a convenience color.) Many times I will substitute a different color for one of these just to experiment because after all an artist can never have too much paint or experiment with color too much. That's what makes it more interesting for me and keeps me engaged.

Green pears are easier to paint than the brown ones (Bosc) that I love to snack on. I'm not sure why this is so, but it's true. Every pear is individual as well: the one on the left seemed a bit more green and the one on the right had a bit of red in it. Closely observing the differences and playing with those characteristics is what really makes the painting beautiful. I allowed myself an hour to do this piece this morning. The background is a piece of fabric I picked up at a sale somewhere. I love the earthy tones and abstract shapes in it. In this instance I immediately saw the shapes echoed the pear stems so I played that up a bit.

I've included a picture of my limited palette, which included mars black, yellow ocher, cadmium orange, cadmium yellow lemon, raw sienna, cadmium scarlet and viridian. As you can see it's possible to get a full range of color from just a few paints, and the color harmony is definitely nicer looking.

Some pears are better than others and then some foods are not good for you at all

We like the Anjou pears because they are versatile and ripen faster. I like to paint them because they are cute and compact. This 6" x 8" painting was done in an hour with a palette knife and the paint that was left on my palette after painting the one below it. So these two foods are kind of like "good" and "evil". Pears are healthy and green, hot dogs are red and artery clogging. Whatever... when you want to paint something food is always available and it comes in a multitude of colors, shapes and sizes. It is not about the subject to me; it is about the arrangement of shapes on the picture plane. Is it interesting or is it too static to be a good painting? I don't always know the answer until the painting is finished. And sometimes not even then...

I had a guy from the Russian Federation email me today asking why I didn't ship to their country. Basically he was saying that I should-- I lost a sale because I didn't. So I have amended my shipping exclusions at eBay Etsy and Bonanza. International sales are good and I needed to be reminded that we Americans are not the only consumers in the world. Two of my most recent sales were to Japanese collectors. It's a global economy!

What effect will the decline of the Euro have on American sales to foreign countries? I would think if the dollar is worth more our goods would become more expensive to people who use other currencies. THAT might not be a good thing.

ANJOU PEARS and ALL AMERICAN LUNCH

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. We had a quiet Christmas so I finally had a chance to paint something for myself after painting many commissioned Christmas pieces from photos. I truly hate working from photographs but they are necessary if the subject is not available I suppose.

This is a "paint over". I have a lot of pieces I don't like and would never sell because I don't think they are any good so I recycle the canvases. Many times the texture underneath adds something to the new painting. This is a knife painting and it was fun to just waste a lot of paint and see what happened. It's a different kind of technique to me because I don't use my knives very often unless I'm working with edges or adding sharp lines so this was a challenge. If we don't challenge ourselves as artists though I'm not sure we can ever truly grow. I don't want the stuff I am painting ten years from now to look like the stuff I am doing today.

12" x 16" oil on canvas

Vibrating Pears - Small 6" x 8" pear paintings that celebrate color

These are the first two in a series of 6" x 8" pear paintings that explore and celebrate complementary color. The goal is to "push" the color while maintaining the realistic aspects of the pears. I find myself ignoring any imperfections in the pears as I concentrate on colro, value and form to maintain the illusion.