More Fruit, Including Pluots!

"Flavor Grenade"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

"Pluots on the Block"
oil on linen panel
5" x 7"

"Gala Half"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

I've fallen behind in my posting - here's some work from this past week. The fruit in the first two paintings are two varieties of pluots. "What is a pluot?", you may be asking. According to Wikapedia, pluot is the tradename for complex hybrid crosses of plums and apricots. (They are more like plums than apricots - the crosses which result in fruit more similar to apricots are naturally referred to apriums.) And yes, the variety name for the first one is "Flavor Grenade". I didn't think that I could improve on that one, so I used it as the title. You can now rest easy today - you've probably learned something new even if it is rather useless info!

More Fruit

"Granny Smith Half"

oil on canvas
6" x 6"

Here's my newest fruit painting...

Coffee Break

"Coffee Break"
oil on canvas
10" x 10"

My newest painting - I had a lot of fun painting this one. I've painted donuts before, but the spoon was a new experience for me as well as the overhead view of the coffee cup. I was particularly proud of the subtle cast shadow on the surface of the coffee. Can you see it?

More Fruit, More Color

"Plum Half"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

"Peach Half"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

Here's my two newest fruit paintings. I am really enjoying playing around with the different colored backgrounds. I'm not sure what else to say... so, I'm off to paint some more...

One and a Half Pears

"Pear"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

"Pear Half"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

Two new small alla prima paintings from this week. I'm really enjoying playing around with the color in the background on these. I bought a package of pastel colored card stock at my local Wal-Mart. I'm simply using the sheets of card stock behind and underneath my subjects. I particularly loved how the cut pear looks with the blue background. I think that I'm just getting started with these!

Painting What I Know

"Sunny Side Up"

oil on canvas
5" x 7"

Now that I've finished up my cat paintings, I'm returning to still life. I want to spend some time, though, exploring other subjects besides the pottery and fruit that I use so much. The art books always encourage us to paint what we know and I decided that one thing I know quite well is food, breakfast in particular. (I could eat breakfast three times a day and be quite content.) A couple of years ago, I stumbled across Oriana Kacicek's blog. She is a very talented daily painter who often uses food as her subject matter. One of the things that I really like about her paintings is her color choice for her backgrounds. Visit her blog and you'll see what I mean.

Last of the Cats

"The Lawn King"
oil on canvas
8" x 10"

"Esmeralda"
oil on canvas
7" x 14"

Here's my last two cat paintings for the animal rescue event at Artifacts Gallery. These paintings as well as other animal (and non-animal) art will be offered for sale at this Eureka Springs gallery during the month of September, with 15% of the sales going to an animal rescue organization. Please visit their website for more information.

The kitten in the grass was a particular challenge. My reference photo of the kitten was taken at our local humane society. The little tyke was posing on carpet. I wanted to place him in a backyard setting, so when I got home, I borrowed one of my daughter's stuffed animals and took photos of it "posed" in my backyard. I was a bit intimidated when I started tackling the grass in the painting. I tried not to get too obsessive-compulsive on the grass details since the kitten needed to be the focus. All-in-all, I'm pleased with how it came out.