"Apple or Pear" (oil on stretched canvas; 8" x 10")

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A red apple and a green pear on a pear-shaped green porcelain plate. Do you prefer the apple or the pear?

"Lady Alice Apples" (oil on stretched canvas; 8" x 10") sold

sold

According to my teacher Danni Dawson, it is a lot easier to sell a still life than a portrait, since nobody wants to hang a stranger's portrait on his wall.  At auctions, Thomas Eakins's portrait sold for one-and-a-half million dollars, whereas his still life made 10 million!  I don't know whether she is pulling our legs to encourage us to do these still life studies as homework.

Her argument is that even as a portraitist, one has to be able to paint all kinds of things convincingly: flowers, musical instruments, books, furniture, pets, even landscapes!  Still lifes are with which you hone your skills at your convenience.  Do you agree with her?

This week's assignment is paint apples.  Many red apples have green bits as well, just like a
Caucasian skin tone with greenish veins.  As you know, reds and greens are complimentary colors;  mixing them together makes ugly browns, if you are careless.  So one has to learn to lay down red on top of green without making muck.  Do you think I succeeded?

"Hydrangea and Baby's Breath" (oil on canvas; 16" x 12")

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Still life setup

Once a term we paint large-headed flowers in John Murray's still life class. As my teacher hates the ubiquitous sunflowers, we usually end up with spider mums.  Aagh!  On Thursday night, when I saw him bringing in a bouquet of gorgeous flowers, including hydrangea, my heart skipped a beat.  He also got some apples, which seem to be the theme of this fall.  But as practice makes perfect, I am no longer disturbed by apples.  Bring them on!

I initially misread the color temperature of the hydrangea and blue cloth in the shadow by making them too warm.  The mid-class critique put me back on the right path.  Wow!  John said that "Hydrangea and Baby's Breath" was the best painting I have ever done in his class.  Of course, I've heard him saying that several times before.  Either I am in an upward spiral course of artistic growth, or he is a terrific morale rouser!

"Red Still Life" (oil on linen; 8" x 12") sold

sold

As I had so much fun painting the shiny surface of the eggplants the other day, I thought I would go even further by throwing in a silver platter.  For the still life objects, I gathered three red produce--pomegranate, bell pepper, and red delicious apple.  "Antioxidant Fest" might have worked as the title of the painting too!

"Antique Teacup and Apples" (oil on linen; 12" x 12")

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Still life setup

Some days I can paint reasonably well; some other days, I can't paint at all.  Although it was only the third week of the term (I missed the first class), John Murray, who must have thought mighty high of our ability, arranged the above complicated setup last Thursday night!  It was awkward to paint just the elegant brass compote laden with red apples, or the dainty antique teacup and saucer, or the three fruits on the right.  Willy nilly, I ended up painting the entire setup despite my different intentions for this term.  Oy!

First of all, I couldn't mix the shadow colors of the apples, or any other colors for that matter.  I couldn't draw the teacup and saucer either.  The biggest problem was the composition.  The painting was so top-heavy that it was about to topple, figuratively speaking.  Eventually, John came to the rescue.  He worked on my painting for half an hour (!).  No, he didn't finish the painting for me; he showed me the way. 

Do you see how dark the teacup and light cloth are in the shadowed side?  How about the greens and purples in the apples!  When John first started putting down greens, blues, and what not into the apples, they looked like the poisoned apples the evil queen offered to Snow White.  "Apples for Snow White" was the first title I thought of for the painting!

On the following day I knocked down the shocking colors, while still maintaining the dark value in the shadows.  I worked on the painting to complete it, perhaps for three hours altogether, until the paints became too sticky.  What you don't know is that during the painting "session" I also went to my ice-skating lesson/practice and baked two batches of brownies for my daughter's marching band as well! 

A teacher once advised that one should not try to paint unless you have a block of painting time.  If I wait for such a block, I will probably paint two or three times a week instead of everyday.  I say PAINT WHENEVER YOU CAN!     

"Still Life with Yellow Sand Pail" (oil on canvas; 14" x 18") sold

sold

Still life setup

Last Thursday evening, my still-life teacher, John Murray, decided to make us do a one-color exercise, the color of choice being yellow.  Since it is one of my favorite colors, I was initially happy with the day's challenge.  Unfortunately, I soon felt my enthusiasm dissipate, as I couldn't figure out what colors were the shadow side of the yellow bucket (I loved it though!), lemons, golden delicious apple, or bananas.

If you can name a color, you can mix it.  If it simply looks like a dull, darker version of the color in the light, you are in trouble.  Oy!  John eventually came around to the rescue.  He helped me with the bucket, which was giving me the most trouble.  The class turned out to be an exercise in humility.  I was perhaps becoming too confident as I breezed through the two previous classes.  John's mantra is: "paint as if you have never painted before."  Yes, sir!  I will do that from now on.

"Three Oranges and White Tureen" (oil on linen; 11" x 14") sold

"Three Oranges and White Tureen"
sold

"Yellow and Violet Still Life" (oil, 11" x 14")
sold

"Two Red Peppers" (oil, 11" x 14")
sold

"Red and Green Apples" (oil, 11" x 14")
sold

I am beginning to see the pattern in the still life setups by my teacher John Murray--the harmony created by complementary colors.  In the first class he gave us red and green apples with neutral draperies.  In the second week, he challenged us with the intensity of red bell peppers against two different shades of green cloths.  The third week's setup was all about the yellow/violet vibrations.  This week he not only baffled us with the orange/blue juxtaposition but also with the octagonal planes of the white tureen! 

His choice of draperies is deliberate.  They may someday come with stripes and all sorts of patterns and textures.  The white bowls, which are clearly included for their reflective qualities, are becoming more complex in their shapes; one even flaunts floral patterns. In the midst of the ever-mounting challenges of painting fruits, vegetables, and fabrics, we are also constantly reminded of the crucial importance of composition and paint application. 

We struggle valiantly to mix the right reds, blues, greens, oranges, violets, and yellows we see in the setups, and often end up with disgusting colors.  The prominent colors in "Three Oranges and White Tureen" are blues and oranges.  For whatever reason, my original color notes were oranges and violets.  John's comment was that I have the violet tendency!  I had to work hard to depurplize the violets and steer them toward blues.  We can, of course, ignore what we see and paint the way we like, as one student was doing with the extremely limited palette of only three colors, plus white.  Or, we can try to mix colors correctly.  Argh.  The vexing still lifes!