Tomatoes

Tomatoes   oil/canvas   11 x 14 x .5

This work painted itself before I began...knew what I wanted.  No table. No bowl....and no pretty tablecloth.  Very minimal with warmish white background.

Back in the day, I shot my work on an old school camera then loaded the images onto my computer.  These days, my I Phone does the job.  A great job...almost too good.

This is not what my painting looks like.  Trust me.  My phone camera has the ability, it seems, to see through layers of paint.  And brushstrokes are almost super-humanly visible.  The white background is invisible because former layers are poking through.  Oh, yes, I fiddled with the controls and color adjustors until my attention to the task had evaporated.  My entire day is focused on finding the hours I need to paint.  And I resent clerical hours, although they are necessary.

So..........................what you are seeing is not the true picture.  Just imagine a wispy white background.  Wabi Sabi. 

We are what we eat...

Cabbage, Carrots, Garlic and Red Onion   watercolor   9 x 13

and we paint what we are....yes....I believe that to be true.  Every stroke reflects the maker.  Every stroke reflects a decision made by the maker that, in actuality, could probably not be repeated by another.  So, for the most part, my paintings become somewhat predictable in that they reflect my own problem solving skills that repeat themselves over time.  And yet, this one surprised me!  It is tighter than usual.  Normally I paint the background in one or two layers with perceivable strokes.  This time I tried something different....a background comprised of multitudinal washes of transparent hues..rose madder, raw sienna and raw umber...in no particular order except what directional I perceived as a lack.  (it needs to be warmer.....etc......add sienna)  Normally, I am not that patient.  In this case, I feel that the flat reflective background plays against the textural painting of the vegetables and even plays up the power of that element.

I love to eat vegetables.  I love to paint vegetables.  I am satisfied with this work.

And yet....I am surprised!