542 New Bottle with Plum

New Bottle with Plum

oil on canvas

12x12"

$288

     I found the bottle at the Habitat for Humanity Restore. The little vase is a gift from a friend. The plum is from my refrigerator and I thought it picked up the pinkish buds on the leaves so beautifully. I was excited and happy with the set up. I used an old used, failed canvas. (I love rescuing them when I can.) And then when I tried to paint, it was crummy, over and over again. So many false starts, but the set up was so beautiful I could not give up on it. Finally, I had to say that is the best I can do.

Golden Plums

Oil on Canvas

8x10"

$160

     Very often I enjoy painting just one piece of fruit in a small scene of nature, but the tree was loaded, and painting all the plums I could find in this one shot was a pleasure.

Ready Plums

Ready Plums

Oil on Canvas

18x6"

$100

     I painted this small scene of nature on an extreme rectangle. It is more extreme than the Golden Ratio canvas, but it is fun because it is a little odd. I have done many "extremes" and plan to do more.

     The palette was limited to ultramarine blue, alizarin permanent, yellow ochre, cad red light, and white, of course.

Early Plum

Early Plum

Oil on Canvas

7x5"

$75

     At our old house we had a plum tree. I painted it sometimes. I found some old pictures of the tree and here was this little plum snugged in behind the leaves. I like its plummy color next to the green leaves.

Two Plums on Branch

Two Plums on Branch

Oil on Canvas

8x8"

$128

     The plums on our tree will provide me with five paintings this year. Here is #3. I climbed around in the tree taking pictures just for this purpose. I use photographs for my paintings of fruit because we eat the fruit before I can finish all the paintings. I use photographs for the animal paintings because animals will not hold a pose. I use photographs often, I must confess.      
     Today, in Robert Genn's Twice-Weekly Newsletter, (Painters Keys) he discusses the shortcomings of using photographs in painting. He says, "Sitting in front of a subject and sweating it out may be the old fashioned path but, in my opinion, it can produce better art. "Cavete camerae," said the well-known Roman philosopher and poet Kjerkius Gennius, (36BC) "Beware of the camera."     
      I take it to heart, but here I am still, a painter who uses them. In fact, I am looking forward to working with them again next week.

One Red Plum

Oil on Canvas

9x12"

$216

     The arrangement of the leaves across the canvas is what I was after. Other leaves were in the scene  and I painted them too with the result that the painting was not so good. When I eliminated some of those background leaves and simplified down to the ones I really liked, then it was much better. Simplifying is an artisitic skill, something I know I should do, but I don't always practice what I know until I stop to remember what I know.

Red Plums

Red Plums

Oil on Canvas

8x8"

$128

     Our plum tree yielded so many great plums this summer. I loved photographing the fruit on the tree for painting later. The photographs were really very pretty, but when I tried to paint them their true color, the painting was no good. After many washdowns, I finally realized I was not going to make that work and decided to use the colors I love. I just need to remind myself that I am an artist.

      "Artists can color the sky red because they know it's blue. Those of us who aren't artists must color things the way they really are or people might think we're stupid."  --Jules Feiffer.