yep, even more red peppers

6"x6" oil/panel



I've exhausted my ability to concentrate on these peppers. A nice breakthrough for me tonight. I'm closer to achieving the knife look with brushes. Good texture and the ability to get more directional stroke work is what I'm after. This latest piece left me satisfied. The peppers are tough subject matter. In artificial light they appear waxy and very little color change is apparent. The highlights are overwhelming. It just didn't work to put them in. I instead landed on the gesture of the subject. The flow of the peppers length and the kinks that appear within were most interesting. The broken edges and loose brushstrokes to convey them grabbed me.The unique shapes of each pepper kept them interesting. Now, how to take this larger scale...plein air... again huge volumes of paint involved. I touched up yesterdays piece with tonights palette and enthusiasm. I think they now make a nice evolution triptych.

more red peppers

6"x6" oil/panel


It's interesting. The more I attempt to focus on a particular subject the less intereseted I am in portraying in it's real state. But that's my whole intention!!! Art is crazy. Maybe I have an issue with focus. I continually want to tear down subjects to the bare essentials. My interest in archetypes could play a role. Representation and abstraction. A fine line indeed. One thing is for sure. I have zero interest in photorealism........At least for now............

red pepper

6"x6"oil/panel

Hallelujah! I have heat!!! The studio however, cold as always. Fired the torch again and did this little piece.

pepper at rest

3- 6"x6" oil/panels

Decided to paint a hot object in cold conditions.....I tweaked a bit

Garlic in artificial light

6"x6" oil/panel


Did a head of garlic tonight. The color changes are very subtle. I had my eyes on a pear but alas it had turned.... basically to liquid. I'm enjoying painting again with the flame thrower propane heater in studio. I recognize a minor issue with this one but will not touch it. I'll just be sure to not make the mistake again.

persimmon

6"x6" oil/hangable panel

Another study. I premixed all colors to avoid blending.

3 persimmons

6"x12" oil/hangable panel

Back to some fruit. Went with natural north light this time. It almost seems a crime to not put these great little persimmons in better light but I wanted the challenge of tough light. In my studio the setup is a good distance from the windows so light is, shall we say, limited. After several nights of splash and dash nocturnes it was difficult to attain the frame of mind to really see the subtle variations of this setup. This one could be tweaked for sure but I will leave it alone. Maybe try another one

turnip revisited

6"x6" oil/ hangable panel

I decided since today is a square root day 3/3/09 I should do a square painting with a root veggie as a subject. Well yesterday was such a day so I cleaned the turnip and tried it again. This time the purple was more prevelant and I tried to clean the edges a bit. Finally I ate it raw with horseradish. I love earthy tasting things and this worked well. Who needs cumudin when you can eat turnips and horseradish?

Turnip

6"x6" oil/hangable panel

Did a study of a turnip and tried to capture the root vegetable quality of this subject. Kept it dirty as if freshly pulled from the ground. The benefits of eating root veggies are many. I wonder what the benefits of painting them are?

yellow patty pan

8"x8" oil/panel

I've been very busy framing lately and getting things organized for the solo show in Lancaster. I managed to get a study in tonight of two "Guatamalean yellow patty pan". We picked these up in NYC. I loved the shapes and had never heard of these before. Dean and deluca always have interesting things albeit not cheap. I have no idea what these are or how to prepare them. I guess they are like mini squashes. Will do a google search to find out.

2 Hungarian Peppers

8"x8"oil/panel

Here are two Hungarian peppers at rest

jalapenos

8"x10" oil/panel

This was a very difficult study. I'll rank it with the yellow tomatoes. No matter how much light hit these jalapenos they remained dark. If I did them again I would leave a seperation of the two subjects on the background. The peppers values were too close to seperate. I tried to tweak the light and pull the front pepper out but it read unbelievable. I went back to the close values and left it at that. I don't think I'll be painting jalapenos again anytime soon.

Gala apple

6"x6" oil/panel

Here is a gala apple

Red Onion and being tagged

6"x6" oil/panel

Here is a peeled red onion. Also my partial response to Loriann's tagging of me. I guess I need to say 7 things about me so here goes.

1. When I was 14 years old (1982) I won the regional rubik's cube solve competition. 37 seconds in the final. I liked arranging colors rapidly even then!

2. I raced mountain bikes from age 25-32. Two hyperextended knees later I decided to ride recreationally.

3. I spent 3 years of my life practicing kundalini yoga. I still do when needed.

4. I meditate about 15 minutes every day. (closed eyes focus meditation)

5. I homebrew biodiesel and burn it in my car and my furnace. ( this means I gather grease from local restaurants and convert it to fuel..)

6. No more titanium white. EVER!! Zinc rules

7. I'm addicted to puzzles of all forms.

I'll tag some folks when I have more time to do research.

Garlic revisited

I liked the look of this garlic head so much I decided to paint it again. This time adding a clove from another head. Tweaked the sprout a bit on the added clove to move the eye

Sprouting Garlic

8"x8" oil/ceramic tile

After a weekend of intense scrutiny of the Chadds Ford landscape I decided to settle down in front of some garlic. This was a very interesting head of garlic. It has an asian feel and I was excited to paint it.

Grapefruit

8"x10" oil/board



Just trying to keep tabs on my visual skills. I liked the look of this grapefruit and decided to paint it. I like the flesh notes on grapefruit. By the way, there will be a reception on Saturday with wine and cheese at Chadds Ford Historical barn from 5-7pm.

A Halved Pear

8"x8" oil/ceramic tile




I'm gearing up for Saturday. I need to prime some boards, scrape palette etc... Anyhow, I wanted to do a quick study of a sliced pear. The flesh isn't reading the proper color on my computer. Usually it's accurate but the flesh looks a bit grayed down this time.

Yellow Peppers

8"x8" oil/ceramic tile



Today I went to three different grocery stores and not one had any yellow tomatoes. The dissapointment was crushing but I had to make do. The closest thing I could find were these yellow peppers. I set them up and shut off the lights. Hoping to get that glow again, I turned on the subject light and bam! More dissapointment. Shook off the misery and concentrated on my subject. Peppers have a heavier waxy feel and many shoulder lobes. In fact I'd say they are mostly shoulders. Resisting the temptation to accurately depict these facts I went with suggestion. Painting rapidly as if outdoors I went with my vision in conjunction with my gut. I'm posting the image without really studying it.

yellow tomatoes

8"x 8" oil/ceramic tile




This is the most difficult still life subject I have ever attempted! When I saw these yellow tomatoes at the store they cried out to be painted. Everything was good until I set them up and turned my artificial light on them. The edges dissappeared and there was not much more than a glow. I will say I was fascinated by the appearance but dumbstruck on how to paint them. I went with my usual routine, darks first and keep warm shadows indoors. Finish with cool light highlights. Well I'm not happy with the outcome. I think this subject should be painted in a whole new fashion. I'm going to eat these these tomatoes and then go and buy some more. The next batch will be painted with one idea in mind. Make them glow! I noticed at the bare minimum the bottoms glow orange and the tops yellow. This is a very minimilist approach but is the one I will use next time.