Still Catching Up

In and Out, Acrylic on Gessoboard, 6"x6", SOLD

Day 15 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge - #12-14

Another catch up day yesterday. I got three more done! After today, I will be completely caught up. I'm glad I made the attempt to catch up rather than skip the missed days. It has been quite an effort but it really pushed me to think up different angles to try quickly, something I didn't feel comfortable with but that I was able to do when I set my mind to it.

Pear Discoveries

The main thing I discovered as I was experimenting with the pears is that recognizing a pear is almost entirely about its shape, or more specifically, its silhouette.  I found I had to include a surprising amount of the outline to get the shape to read as a pear. I thought I would be able to just leave hints of the outline and get it to work but that didn't happen.  That said, I was able to mess with a surprising number of the other attributes and still keep the idea of "pear". The remaining two pear paintings can be seen below.

Are You In There?, Acrylic on Gessoboard, 6"x6", $30

This is the first pear I did yesterday.  I was trying to see how much of the pear I could take away before it stopped looking like a pear. Not much, it turns out. To paint this one, I started with the colored background and slowly added the bits of pear color, stopping as soon as I thought it was recognizable.

Green Prear, Acrylic on Gessoboard, 6"x6", $30

In this painting, I used all broken color, blending the background with a squeegee to smooth the transitions while leaving the pear itself with more texture. I also used the squeegee to mush the shadow side of the pear into the background, losing the edge. This pear has less of the stereotypical pear shape - it's more like a d'Anjou than a Bartlett - so the stem is actually pretty important in the identification.

In and Out, Acrylic on Gessoboard, 6"x6", SOLD

Once again, the last painting of the day was my favorite. Maybe having a tired brain helps me get a little looser. Anyway, I went back and forth on this one putting color in with a palette knife, then smoothing it with the squeegee, then adding more color. Once again I was surprised by how much pear shape was needed to feel like I had actually painted one, although some of it was the desire to get the sense of roundness. 

Note: To purchase these paintings, please click here. You will find yourself on my website where you can make your purchase.