Catching Up

Now You See It, Acrylic on Gessoboard, 6"x6", $50

Day 14 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Last week I got seriously behind.  After spending two full days at the Bryan Gallery in Jeffersonville, hanging exhibits, I spent the rest of the week trying to catch up with all of the produce in my garden, making and delivering prints for Frog Hollow in Burlington, VT, the household chores, and more. It's amazing how time flies.

I thought about just skipping all those days and moving on, but I wanted to see if I could catch up instead (mind over matter). That meant finding something simple enough to paint that would allow me to do a number of paintings in a short amount of time and that could be varied enough to stay interesting.  The idea was to try to recapture the momentum of daily painting so I could move forward again. I opted for pears - they are simple enough to do quickly but their shapes are interesting enough to provide variety.

Today I am posting the first four which I did over the last two days. The one above was actually the last in the bunch - doing several in quick succession is working.  The other three are shown below in the order in which they were done.

Pear #1, Acrylic on Gessoboard, 6"x6", NFS

This was the first pear.  I decided to use 6"x6" Gessoboards because they are easy to use and I have them on hand.  They are small enough to do quickly and I like the surface. I used a squeegee and palette knife to apply the paint. I was obviously a little rusty here. Still, the light is kind of interesting.

Pear on Orange, Acrylic on Gessoboard, 6"x6", NFS

This one is number two.  I tried a different background and although interesting, the pear looks too much like a cut-out here. I'll probably revisit this one after the challenge to see if I can get the pear to sit in its surroundings a bit better.I do like the "cloth" and the cast shadow to the right of the pear.

Pair of Pears, Acrylic on Gessoboard, 6"x6", NFS

This one is number three in this group of paintings. I think this might actually be my least favorite of the bunch. It just doesn't feel right to me.

Now You See It, Acrylic on Gessoboard, 6"x6", $50

This one is the fourth painting. I feel like I was making progress. The idea here was to see how much information was needed to make the pear emerge from its surroundings - hence, "Now You See It".  This one was fun and challenging and gave me an idea for the next one.