Pink Grapefruit

Reference photo is from an amazing photographer on Paint My Photo (PMP-Art.com).  Stunning work. Many of his photos look like paintings and are quite inspirational.  He definitely has an artist's eye for composition and lighting. This is one of my favorites.  A bit of artistic license getting it to fit into a 6 x 6 tho.

Pink Grapefruit
click to zoom / purchase

Viacheslav's photo - registration required, but free.  

Update -  Thread the Needle has been updated to include a reflection under the thimble. Click here for the auction, it's much better now - thanks for the help (you know who you are).  

Enjoy, life is joy we make one moment at a time – Johnna

Recharged!

Getting back into the swing of painting now that we’re back from a wonderful vacation to Bermuda.  Going to try painting a few of the photos – the colors are so fabulous and the island so beautiful.  I suspect it will be a bit of a challenge switching from painting real life / still life, but ready to dive in.

This is a do-over of a painting because the panel was damaged on the first one. So very disappointing and I think added to my lack of painting mojo.  Hopefully that’s behind me now!  I am mesmerized by these beautiful royal blue, gold rimmed plates we found on our honeymoon.  I think you know I LOVE grapefruit.  Not too many of us do, but hopefully we all at least like looking at them.  I am enjoying the fact that I get to keep the first one despite its flaws. . . 

Luscious Elegance #2

This painting will be added to the Daily Paintworks auction on Saturday 8/10.    

Swiss Miss

Some of you may know that I had the most delightful opportunity to live in Europe during my high school years.  As an American family, we had the luxury of traveling and learning a lot.  To me, experiencing other cultures is the best education you can possibly have, especially when growing up.  This darling cup came from a small hotel in Switzerland on one of our many ski trips.  It has the subtle, yet distinctive feel of a tulip.  Can you see the petals?  Such fond memories, better than a T-shirt souvenir don’t you think?  I recall the hotel refused my offer to pay for it, but were gracious enough to give it to me.  A cherished memory.  Perhaps I should try this again because the delicate white got a bit lost in trying to render the whole.  I love it anyway.

Swiss Miss

Delish!

What’s could be better than triangular fruit on a square plate!  I just love the way light sneaks through watermelon unlike other subjects – it’s not translucent nor opaque but some mysterious place in between.  How lovely to have such variety in life.  This was both fun and frustrating to paint.  I hope to do more in the future. 

Delish!

One of my fondest childhood memories was the “watermelon dress.”   Growing up with a brother and three sisters – there were a lot of hand-me-downs (clothes, toys, furniture, etc.).  That has to be an ancient term.  I wonder what it is called now. Gently-used-pre-re-cycle-wear or something like that.  Ha, ha.    At any rate, it was a great dress – starchy white and dark green with big bold, appliqué watermelon slices on it.  All the girls got to wear it and you can see it was a favorite when you look through any family photo album.   Funny how some things just stick with you for a lifetime.  I cannot think about watermelon without thinking about the dress and I bet my three sisters are the same!  Normal people probably just think watermelon means it is finally summertime!

Enjoy, life is joy we make one moment at a time.

Trying on Some Black

Hello again - Earlier I mentioned that I had a few new paintings, but was not very happy with them.  I “called a friend”, got the CPR going, and will post them over the next few days.  In addition, I’m trying out black backgrounds because they seem so intriguing.  The black I use is Phthalo Green and Alizarin Crimson (learned a few years ago from DT).  Somehow, the dark green and red make the most luscious black.  These are both considered cool colors, who knew.  Perhaps that explains why anything warm will pop out at the viewer.  So much to learn.

Every day I try to take a three-mile walk.  The path has a number of wildflowers and it’s always delightful to see what’s blooming.  Go figure, all the time we spend hand-holding and tending our garden plants doesn’t seem to apply to these hardy specimens that brave the drought and the torrential rains!  This painting was to capture their bravado.  Calling it Daisy Divas, because it looks like they are actually singing into the wild clover “mike” and jockeying for the limelight!

Daisy Divas

Tomorrow I will post my favorite of the three and put it up for auction. I am delighted to report that last week's painting, Lemons Four Ways, has been bid on (auction to end on Sunday June 16th).

Enjoy, life is joy we make one moment at a time.

Emergency CPR – Creative Painting Rescue #2

First of all, I am delighted to report that another painting sold in the DPW auction!  Grapefruit 4289 is now sporting the sought after red dot!  See it in my Gallery (click here).  If interested, other auctions are at http://dailypaintworks.com/Account/MyAuctions and more are coming soon. 

The second painting rescue was from a beautiful hanging basket (thanks to GL in my art club).  Not sure how she knew that Gerber daisies are in my list of top five favorite plants or that pink/rose is one of my favorite colors.  Er, did we not have pink napkins and matching rose-colored centerpiece for brunch?  

Had to “phone a friend” and get advice from my art club on how to administer the CPR – they came to the rescue and helped me focus in on three very special Gerber’s, emphasizing that the top two were catching the light and the other one is holding up the “arrangement”.  Seems as though they are all jockeying for the “diva” position (the daisy’s not the art club gals).

Gerber Divas

I am in love with Williamsburg Persian Rose that an amazing artist / classmate turned me onto several weeks ago.  For you artists, it’s a warm permanent rose and seems so versatile.  I think that might be the allure of Grapefruit 4289 – yummy!

Fruity

My turn to host Art Club today - always interesting, fun and different!  We are a bit of a motley crew, bonded through painting.  Having this club keeps us connected to art even when our busy lives decide otherwise.

Here’s the painting from “yesterday”, oops lost another day somewhere.  Another thing I love is grapefruit, which probably explains why I’m not fond of oranges. It’s called Grapefruit 4289 because that’s the produce bar code number.  For some reason, I think that is rather clever on my part.  Oh well, naming the art is still a challenge for me – I guess that’s why there’s so much art out there called Object #1, Object #2, etc.  So perhaps I am a bit more creative (smile) . . . .  Let me know if you notice a new hot trend for naming still life’s by bar code!

A quirky thing about my new square plates, they do odd (er, I mean interesting) things to shadows (color, angles, etc.) - need to keep working on that aspect.

Grapefruit 4289 (and proud of it)