"Cosmic Combination"

 

 

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6" x 6" oil on gessoed panel

 

This is what became of the 6x6 that I scrubbed out before doing the previous painting. I had been getting caught up in details and complications, so I aimed for "bold and simple". I attempted to paint chocolate and cherries together, but 70% cacao Scharffen Berger chocolate melts ridiculously fast if it gets anywhere near a 60-watt desk lamp, so the best alternative was to use something cake-like that wouldn't melt before I finished the under-sketching. This is the last remaining fresh cherry atop the last survivor from a batch of brownies.

"Take Us To Your Leader" - SOLD

 

 

SOLD

 

5" x 7" oil on gessoed panel

 

This one resulted from what is usually called a "happy accident", though it was anything but happy at the time. I was a full four hours into a 6"x6" when I realized I was polishing a pile of crap, so I scrubbed it out, tossed the dirty board aside, and started anew. My ideas for this new painting weren't any better. It was getting late in the day, and I was frustrated and PO'd. Out of desperation (and with a dash of cynicism), I threw down a backround cloth and tossed some cherries onto it at random. Fortunately for my sanity, they landed in a workable arrangement that suggested a story of two cherries with alien "antennae", versus one without.

"Goth Cherry" - SOLD

 

 

5" x 7" oil on gessoed panel

 

Picking through my bag of cherries for artistically suitable specimens, I found one with a freakishly curly stem. I bet it was ostracised by the other, redder, cherries. This curly-stemmed, pale cherry probably listened to WFNX and wrote poetry. It was a bit... Goth.

 

Speaking of which, I understand that "goth" has morphed into "emo"? My cultural vocabulary is still late-90's vintage (for example, in the old days at the end of last century, back when cell phones were a rarity, "sick" meant "gross", not "awesome") and, being conservative by nature, I refuse to change, goth darnit. Therefore, my unique cherry is "Goth" and not "Emo".

"Hot and Sweet"

 

 

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6" x 6" oil on gessoed panel

 

I was just getting started on cherry paintings when I was given a purple pepper from a local garden. I'm not sure if it's a hot variety, but it certainly was purple, and made for a fun combination.

"From The Garden"

 

 

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6" x 6" oil on gessoed panel

 

The title is not rhetorical - the tomatoes, pepper, and greenery were all grown fresh and local. Important note: If you paint fresh greenery from a garden, be sure to paint fast, else the greens will un-freshen over the course of a work day, and your composition will change as you paint. Ask me how I know!

"Uranium Glass Cat"

 

 

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5" x 7" oil on gessoed panel

 

Title says it all - this is a cat made from Uranium Oxide glass. I bit off more than I was expecting to chew with this one. I accidentally overslept on this workday, and the late wakeup put me under time pressure to set up and start painting, so I grabbed the cat from the roommate's curio cabinet, put it on top of a box, stuck a sheet of paper under it to break up the background, turned on the light, and got to work. It took a lot of work to cope with the varied colors, reflections, transparencies, and opacities on what appeared to be a simple green piece of glass.

 

If you ever see one of these Uranium Glass antiques, you should know that the glass is not dangerous, but it really is made with a form of Uranium. And yes, the feet of the cat were off the paper on the actual object, so although it looks like it's floating, that's how it sat on the box top.

"Time For Pie" - SOLD

 

 

SOLD!

 

5" x 7" oil on gessoed panel

 

(How long should I stay on the Star Trek movie title theme?) Circumstances on July 4th prohibited me from blowing up anything, barbecueing, or going shooting, so I did the next best thing and made an apple pie, per the instructions of Our Lord and Master of Good Eats, Alton Brown. Unfortunately since the pie done got 'et (and it was good) the next best thing was to paint the pie bird and pie server, and since it looked like the antique pie bird is calling out, I figured he was saying "Time for pie!", and I put him next to the pie server - get it? I'm so clever.

 

This one frustrated me at the time. The velvety foreground cloth texture gave me a hard time, and I was painting well into the evening. In retrospect, though, it's become one of my favorites.