"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?

"Yellow Still Life" (oil on stretched canvas; 12" x 9")

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Danni Dawson, my teacher, assigned her portrait painting class a color study of yellow on yellow.  I put together a yellow ensemble of a lemon, banana, clementine, and cherry tomatoes with a Wedgwood oil cruet on an orange cloth.  Perhaps I learned my lesson with the red color study about the value differentiation; this one went much easier.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the painting pulsate with warmth and cheer.  No wonder I like the yellow color!

"Life is a Bowl of Peaches" (oil on stretched canvas; 8" x 8" x 3")

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Ripe peaches from a farmers market in a silver bowl.  Ah, life is a bowl of delicious, ripe peaches, or it should be!  This is an old painting that I "fixed" last night in this busy week of my daughter's spring break and the Easter holiday.  I hope I made it more interesting!

"Life is a Bowl of Peaches" (original state)