Cherry Days

 

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Cherries tell me specifically that we are nearing the end of summer. Which means my kid is heading back to school soon, and I will be heading off to California to paint once again in the Sierra Nevadas. Here is an example from my last trip, two years ago. That place is freaking MADE for artists. I'm leaving in a week, so will still have a few paintings to show you before then.

Cherries for Tea

 

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A few days ago I posted two paintings and asked which was your favorite. The results? Pretty much tied! Thank you to the many who voted, even if your answer was unsure. It was very interesting for me, and proved once again, that there are no sure answers in art. Only opinions. : )

Wake Up, Sleepy Heads!

 

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The cherries were sleeping. One woke up and decided it was time to start the day. But what on earth do cherries get up to? Other than bothering me to paint their portraits.

Siblings

 

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The cherries asked if they could star in their very own painting, with out any co-stars. They get annoying if they don't get their way, so I gave in.

Lean on Green

 

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I found this lovely, light green cup at the 4-story antique store in downtown Missoula the other day. I don't think it's quite an "antique," but she came with a maroon twin, and I love them. The cherries do too.

Chaperones

 

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The creative life is a wild ride. Sometimes you're up and sometimes you're down. Sometimes the ideas poor out, and sometimes you completely forget how to paint.

I (re)learned some hard lessons this week about overworking. What I (re)learned was - don't do it. Because there's no undo in oil paint. So (after I got over feeling discouraged) I wiped a bunch of paintings and redid them, trying to focus on my old mantra: a poem, not a dissertation.

Cherry Camps

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More fun with cherries. For this one I used a warm light - as opposed to the cool light I lit the last 2 with. I always like to try my subjects out in different environments.

Cherry Jubilee

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The title of this is "Cherry Jubilee," not to be confused with cherrIES jubilee, the dessert. A jubilee is a special celebration of an event - an anniversary. The cherries are celebrating the time they won the cherry bowl. You should'a seen it. They killed.

Cherries Three

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Cherries are in stores again, so I felt it was fitting to pull out my little copper pot again. I found it in a Laguna flea market several years ago on a lovely trip with some artist friends. Ah, good memories.

Angel in Heaven

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I had a little epiphany this morning while I was running. And this may seem completely obvious, but it occurred to me that there is absolutely no formula for good art. You can follow every rule of thumb you've ever heard, but you are still not guaranteed a good painting.

I did a few larger paintings a number of months ago, and this is one of them. It is 12x12 inches. It seems positively huge compared to a 6x6, yet still a comfortable size.

Cherry-o's

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Forever ago I bought some fabric paint called Neopaque, and have just started to experiment with it. It's great stuff. Way better than just plain old acrylic paint (duh). You iron it afterwards which gets out all the kinks from the wet paint. I painted these little circle-dots yesterday and today found cherries were back in again! Yay!

Cherries Contained

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This is the last of the series and my personal favorite. Many thanks to Sarah for lending me the green bottle, which has complemented the cherries so well. And to my parents for giving me the confidence to pursue art in the first place ... wait, sorry I lapsed into my acceptance speech daydream. Heh heh ...

Coy Cherries

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For my second in this series I decided to play around with stacking and a cozy, little grouping. It may look simple but I tried about 30 minutes worth of different combinations with the bottles in different positions and stacks, etc. Oh man. Often the simplest compositions are the most difficult to come up with.

Bird's Eye View

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I did a series of paintings with bottles and cherries. This is the first one and arguably the simplest. Stay tuned for   more.

Pink Reflections

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I am so happy to have finally found cherries at the grocery store! Small, red and shiny - endlessly useful to the likes of this still life artist.

Disco Cherry

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I found this cute little hippo at a thrift store near the coast. He's actually a toothpick holder - got a big hole in his back. But I thought he was perfect paired with this single cherry. They're on a date - doin' a little disco dancing while the hippo contemplates his next move.

Reflecting Love

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Thank you all so incredibly much for your kind comments!! As usual I am overwhelmed by the love, support and virtual hugs. You all have wrapped me in a giant, cozy blanket and it is just what I needed.

Now I am off to Florida to teach all next week. One thing I didn't think about when we moved to Oregon was how many time zones I was away from the East coast, and how many hours it would take to get there! Oh man. So while I lurch across the country tomorrow, please enjoy my second to last before the fire painting. I'll post more faces soon.

Scary Cherry

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I apologize for not posting this past week. We have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off in the never-ending (it seems) task of starting over from scratch in a new house. I hope to get back to regular posting soon. Meanwhile I am almost ready to start painting again. I keep thinking I can paint and then realize I am missing something important. The last order of supplies will come tomorrow while we are in Portland making an IKEA run.

See pics of our new house on our New Beginning blog.

Whiskey or Tea?

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The second part of this title, which I thought of when I painted it (weeks ago) is "No Contest." But that cherry's already had enough, don't you think? The rest is for me.   : )

We finally made it to Oregon. Check out our New Beginning blog to read about it and see photos.

Pushover

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This lovely wooden duck (gone now) was given to me by my buddy Don, in California. I enjoyed painting it. And speaking of gifts, I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to all of you who have sent art supplies, gift cards, books, music, emails, etc. We are so incredibly grateful for the support. I can't say it enough. And many thanks to all of you who've sent funny face pics already. We've been running around tying up loose ends, and will be until we leave, so I won't be able to paint again until the 6th of October. But I can't WAIT to get started on my new project. I have so many wonderful images to work from. Please keep sending them.

Yesterday we went to visit the old "house". I posted some photos on the building my studio blog - the last chapter of that one. I dug through the ashes and found a few still life objects - none useable except maybe one cup. I also found my little travel turp can, shown below. It was sad but we are glad to have seen it. It proved good closure for us. Now on with the adventure!