"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?

"Golden Delicious and Lemon" (oil on stretched linen; 14" x 18")

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Last night, I went to John Murray's still life class, feeling refreshed and ready to paint.  But I didn't like the setup John was arranging for my corner of the studio.  Red apples on yucky green fabrics--not my cup of tea.  I looked back to see the above setup, of which I forgot to take a picture.  Wow!  I persuaded two classmates to move a bit to make space for me.  John told us to wait for the night's lesson.  I couldn't.  I started painting right away.

By the time the teacher gave us the instructions (mass the apples in one color, then separate them into individual fruits), I was done blocking in my golden delicious.  John shook his head, saying something about "nobody listens to me."  Oops.  I was unstoppable, putting down one color after another, without hesitation.  He came around occasionally to help me modify small aspects of the setup to help the design.  Other than that, he loved the painting; so did I.  I was channeling Paul Cezanne, John's hero, for the first time in his class.  I was fearless.  The painting is not quite in my style, but who cares!

"Pears and Pebbles" (watercolor on Yupo; 9" x 12")

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This is one of the first paintings I did on a slick, synthetic support called Yupo.  Paints dry to jewel-like vivid colors because Yupo is not absorbent.  For the same reason, you can wipe off paints back to the original pure white of Yupo, as you can see on the cut surface of the pear in the center.  Fun!

Adding another layer of paint on the already dry part of the painting requires a gentle touch, since if you press the brush hard, you end up lifting off the first layer.  Oops.  Drawing with a graphite pencil also needs to be done with an uttermost care, because Yupo doesn't take paints where you erased the pencil lines.  Sounds like too much trouble?  Try Yupo if you haven't yet.  It's worth the effort.  The painting was juried into the Art League show in Alexandria, VA in 2000.