Ever heard of a plucot? It’s a cross between a plum and an apricot. One of these may be a pluot, which is apparently a similar cross but one is more apricot-like and the other more plum-like. In any case they were fun to paint.
6.5 inches x 8.5 inches oil on gessoed paper
I’ve expanded my palette a bit. I was having a lot of trouble achieving a full range of values and intensities using a strict limited palette. For instance, I can mix a range of colors from yellow to red using alizarin and yellow ochre, but if I want a lighter value I have to add white which lessens intensity. I can get a lighter value higher intensity yellow using cadmium yellow light. Anyway, I’m learning a lot from these little sketches.
It occurs to me that I should have learned this stuff years ago when I studied painting in college. It’s easy to blame the curriculum or my instructors or the times. The focus, in the 1970s, when I was in college, was on content, not on the fundamentals of constructing a painting, etc. There may be some truth in that, but it’s also true that my focus, as young man, was more on beer, women and the bohemian lifestyle than on learning to paint. As they say, youth is wasted on the young. Ces’t la vie.
I just love your work, Bill. This is wonderful.
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Lovely painting this, Bill. I love the surpirse composition of the camera with the fruit and the colors are great!
Ronell
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Yummy, delicious painting, Bill. I love the temperature range of your greys and you convey the excitement of finding colour through the process of painting, mixing, juxtaposing in such an infectious manner that looking at this little gem is to partake of your joy.
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Got to your blog through Elio’s.
I am a watercolorist (and recently, a collagist) myself, but I really like your style, use of color and brush-strokes. This is one very unique still-life.
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I love your work. I came to your blog through Joe Felso: Ruminations which led me to How To Survive Suburban Life and then to you. As a photographer, I’m especially drawn to this painting. I’m trying to imagine the size and texture underhand. I’ve seen many still-lifes but none with cameras as the main focus. Nice work.
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I love this painting Bill!
It’s so beautiful and lush.
C
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Wonderful work! Love the juicy quality.
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