"Pear and Orange Slices"

Oil on 6x6 hardboard panel


I bought this pear because of it's color, I loved the reddish orange blush color on the one side.

"Lime, Orange, Lemon and Cherries"

Oil on 5"x7" hardboard
I'm happy to be finished with this one, and now I'm satisfied with it. Whew! I think I'm painted out for a while. I need to mow the lawn and catch up on my laundry!!

Fruit re-painted

Oil on 5"x7" canvas panel
I liked this painting alot, but something about that tangerine bothered me. It seemed too perfectly round, and the nobby end was at an awkward angle, and I had a hard time making it look right. (Scroll down to see the previous painting) So, I put an orange in it's place. I like this much better.

"Cut Orange"

Oil on 5"x7" hardboard panel
I started this painting earlier in the week, and never got back to finish it until today. The orange I had cut up was still sitting on display, starting to mold. I'm glad I waited to finish it, because I never was quite happy with the background color, but I didn't know why. Today, seeing it again after a few days had gone by, I could see why. The background color was too warm, too similar to the oranges, I thought mixing up a color with more blue in it might look better. I spread a bit of the new color on with a palette knife, and liked the color and also, it seemed to make the orange look brighter. I found that the texture the knife left in the paint was interesting, too, as it left the color underneath showing through here and there. I brushed it out a touch, and had to struggle to make myself leave it alone! I just have a habit of "petting" the paint with the brush, and sometimes too much of that makes for a boring surface.

Oil on watercolor paper

Oil on watercolor paper, 5" x7"
I went to an art festival recently and saw some wonderful paintings by an artist who said he like to work in oil on heavy watercolor paper. So, I thought I'd try a little experiment and do an oil painting on some watercolor paper. I put a coat of gesso on it, and let it dry, and did this painting of an orange on a white cloth. I changed the color of the background and shadows many times, and wasn't too concerned with ending up with a finished painting, I was just playing around. Then I got an impulse to put this blue/green color in the shadows and I really liked it like that. So, that's where I left it. I might try this again and do a more finished painting.