Thursday, July 29, 2010

Pear Picnic

Pear Picnic
oil on gallery wrapped canvas, 12x12x1" $100 SOLD


Now I can finally eat these pears! I have been saving them to paint and they keep getting more and more ripe and you know they don't last all that long.



I picked a Brown-Eyed Susan from my front garden and thought it complimented the yellow in the jug. It sits in a tiny blue bottle lent to me last year (!) by my pal Colleen, and I recently promised I would return it as soon as I painted it. I was afraid all this time. Of what? Of painting transparent glass. But I have conquered that fear and will see if I can do it again...soon.

 When I finish a piece like this, I have my favorite parts and in this instance it might be the drapery behind the arrangement. I managed to make it look dimensional and still got that hand dyed look of my fabric.

When I paint I have to gear up and ignore the voice of doubt that still lingers. I play the radio loudly and tell myself, "It doesn't have to be PERFECT". I say that about 20 times an hour, yet I still fiddle with the edges or the shadows or the highlights or the color. And then something amazing happens. It starts to look right, after hours of looking like mush. I cannot figure out how to do that.

10 comments:

  1. Hi Melody...
    First of all I want to tell you what a talented person you are...and to ask you if there's anything you can't do? And do your days consist of 24 hours....? You are amazing at the amount of work you turn out...do you sleep?....Everyday, I can't wait to check out your blog to see what you have completed.....in record unbelievable time......
    All I can is AMAZING......

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  2. Anonymous6:08 PM

    Hi Melody, I'm a new follower, and I must say your work "zings" with energy and joyfulness.I hope you enjoyed eating those pears as much as I enjoyed seeing your painting.Love the purse a while back!!

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  3. My favorite part(s) are the blue glass vase, the shiny spots on that fabulous yellow pitcher and the yellow pear.... I love that is on hot, sassy, pink!

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  4. Your paintings are so real. It's like everything is sitting right in front of you. I love the blue vase also.

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  5. Anonymous8:50 PM

    Querida, me likey!

    ~RBC xxx

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  6. Hi Melody - Heavens to Betsy you are quite the artiste. Really lovely!

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  7. Anonymous12:42 AM

    Hi Mel, I always love to look at your paintings no matter the subject.
    Here is a question I always wanted to ask you.......is all the fruit you buy for subject models always that shiny? I would spend alot of time polishing my apples and pears to get them to ever be that shiny. then again I wondered if it might be the light. Everytime I go to the fruit store I always notice I never see anything like the models you use.
    They are just beautiful.

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  8. Your paintings make the world a little bit brighter.
    You mentioned a very important point, more so for beginners: Not to give up too early, but to trust in the magical transformation!

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  9. Hi Mel~
    Regarding your last comment - maybe you're not supposed to "figure it out", but just to let it happen. Sometimes, that's the hardest part! Enjoy those pears~
    Chris

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  10. Anon,
    I polished the pears on the hem of my shorts so that I could see a highlight. I use a spotlight and that helps bring out the shapes of these items.
    I have painted matte items, and you can find them in the Paintings set on my flickr photostream.

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Hello,
So nice of you to drop by. I love your comments, and if you would really like a reply, please email me at fibermania at g mail dot com