Fruits of My Labor

"Let's Make Pie" oil on gallery canvas

"Good apple pies are a considerable part of our domestic happiness." -- Jane Austen

Happy fall everyone! I've been painting almost everyday in prep for my gallery group show next month.  Much like changing your swing the week before a golf tournament, you wouldn't think this would be a good time to suddenly change the way you've painted for years.

But recently I decided to start painting directly from the photos on my iPad. (Note I also have a laptop that I manage my photos on so I take the photos with my 20x digital Canon and then email them to myself.)  Both these paintings were done from my iPad screen.

It took a few paintings to used to but so far I really prefer the color over my ink jet printer and of course it's great being able to "zoom in" on detail as needed. I don't think it will be long before I won't be able to paint without it. An added bonus is that with a tablet right there you can easily listen to music, podcasts, etc. at the same time. You could paint from your laptop screen as well--I just prefer a more compact tablet my easel. 

"Cherries--Sweet!" 8x8 oil on gallery canvas

I was born in Michigan—A state that takes great pride in their apples and cherries.  So these subjects were also a subtle nod to my childhood. More specifically, I selected these photos because I like the composition element and lighter value of the bags. Briefly, one  alla prima or “wet in wet” oil painting technique I’ve used here is painting the lighter value areas with a more textural impasto application of paint.

Often I use a knife (you could also use a cut credit card) directly on the canvas for this, but I also scrape up the paint from my palette and then scoop that paint off the knife with a brush. It may sound like extra work but you get a wonderful effect from this method. Thanks for stopping by--have a colorful weekend!