3 Oranges

3 Oranges, 8 1/2 x 24 1/2 in., Acrylic on Board, 2008

This is a quick still life I did a few weeks ago. I think I had extra paint and had only been working on collages-a still life was needed. I need to keep in touch with my technical skills. A fun thing about this piece is the board it is on. Marty, Zach and I went to IKEA a few weeks ago and I found amazing board in the junk section. I bought about 20 surfaces for under $5.00.

My favorite part of this painting the inclusion of the natural wood look. Instead of gessoing right over the wood I decided to use it as my background color. An exercise in allowing the materials to guide me.

3 Oranges on my wonderful easel.

Pear

Pear, 28x32 in., acrylic and mixed media, 2008

This painting is composed with acrylic paint and collage. I used the lines of the text from the collage to build the pear figure. Acrylic paint to a new adjustment for me right now and I have been using a lot of string gel which is a thick, puffy paint like substance that gives the acrylic paint for body and transparency. It is a great stepping stone.


Process pictures are a fantastic way to keep track of how my work is evolving and to learn from my process. More often than not I like the painting most somewhere in the process part opposed to the final product. I like the rawness of the process, its more honest. In the end I did not do a great job of embracing the under-painting/collaging. I think that is part of my adjustment back to acrylic. I am used to being able to beat down the oil paint, it is much more flexible. Acrylic kind of sticks and stays. Each piece is a learning process.

Here are a couple of close up shots so that you can appreciate the details. The close up on the left gives you a view of the collage
pages. You can see the text lines embracing the contour of the pear. Sometimes collage is the only piece in a painting that saves it technically, in regards to form.


To the right shot gives a detail of the stem. I used a purple floral print for the collage part. The string gel is pretty this in this part giving it some texture.