Monday, January 30, 2012

And Speaking of Apples....


Another Apple Painting



This one is titled, A.



All these green apples.  There is a bit of a double meaning here, is there not?  Green Apples?  The color green, and/or the reference to organic?  


While I do see loads of green colored apples in the markets, I don't see many organically grown apples in the markets.  Why is that?



Apples....all started with Eve, the Greek gods quibbled over the apple, it helped Newton discover gravity and it made Steve Jobs loads of money.  How much do you know about apples?




Apples, known as a cleansing food, contain fibre, antioxidants and fruit flavonoids. The most important of the flavonoids contained in apples is quercetin, which has anti-inflammatory as well as anti-cancer actions. Apples contain vitamin C as well – more so in green apples than in red ones. Apples can reduce blood cholesterol levels, counter constipation and diarrhoea, help joint problems and help prevent diseases in general. Apples are best eaten raw, as cooking them can reduce the flavonoids by as much as 70 percent into the cooking water. It is also a good idea to eat the apple unpeeled as flavonoids are contained in or near the skin.  It's better to eat them if they are naturally or organically grown, but you will have to look for them.



No more speaking about apples.
It's back to the easel and apple painting for me.




Saturday, January 28, 2012

Letters and Apples....



The Alphabet and Apples



Of course the letter A is for Apples.  Haven't we heard this since we were children?



Since one of my current commissions is a gallery wall with  groups of paintings, several are apples, and since I have this fascination with words and letters, words keep showing up on the canvas.



The word 'alphabet came into Middle English from the Late Latin word alphabetum, which in turn originated in the Ancient Greek alphabet, from alpha and beta, the first two letters of the Greek alphabet. Alpha and beta in turn came from the first two letters of the Phoenician alphabet, and meant ox and house respectively.



Ok, I get the using the first two letters of the Greek alphabet to form a word to represent the group of letters, but the whole ox and house meaning is a bit random...


My studio is filled with apples.  Apples sitting on the table, apples in bowls, apples perched on the easel.  Next to the apples there are bowls of letters.  Letters are on the floor.  Letters are strewn about.  For now I am using the letter A.

Absolutely, A is for Apple.

Monday, January 23, 2012

The last of the Pomegranates...


It's The Same Composition


But It's a Different Palette.


I painted four of these pomegranate compositions, each a little different from the last.  One is a collage...the one shown above.



There have been other pom paintings and some of them will now be framed and hung on a gallery wall which was commissioned for a new home in the Southern California dessert.







I am moving on to green apples which will be another part of the gallery wall.  Check back to see how this all comes together.

Monday, January 9, 2012

A Visual Artist I AM...


Not A Verbal Artist

I have a fascination with words, probably because I don't use them very well.


Sometimes my speech is a bit halting as my brain searches for the words I want to utter (it's kind of a clutter in there).  But give me some brushes, a canvas or paper and I can pour forth the creativity without thinking (I guess the clutter moves aside).  Words are wonderful things, primary communication, but art is the same.  I frequently tell people, 'I am a visual artist, not a verbal artist'.  I communicate through my work.



When a recent commission became a painting that required words on the canvas I began to think about other works I have created which incorporate words.


There have been collages which included newspaper and magazine clippings 


and hand painted words on canvas, but now I am intrigued with applied letters, like in this small pomegranate painting:


So a twist develops in my work.  Words and more words.  Not all my work will incorporate words, or will it? Does this make me a verbal artist too?

Thursday, January 5, 2012

More Pomegranates...


Continuing the Pomegranate Paintings

2x2"

I am inspired by another artist who paints the same subject over and over, in a variety of sizes.  

7x5"

 I am working on a commission....an entire wall that will be several of my paintings, about nine to be more or less exact.

8x10"

There will be groupings of work, and one of those will be pomegranates, in various sizes, both watercolor and acrylic paintings.

8x6"

Check back to see more pomegranates and how the wall comes together.