Furless Apples

Building on what may become a food theme, here are two more apples. Fruit makes for a satisfying subject. It's generally colorful, and often beautiful or at least interesting in shape or form. There's symbolism and metaphor galore. And it's a still life you can eat. I have lingered over a still life too long, however, sometimes repainting the fruit repeatedly as it caves in and becomes shrouded with a greenish-white fur of mold. As they say, it's all good. But not necessarily to eat.

Red Onion, Blue Bowl,

White reflection. It's not intended to express patriotism, but only to show some nice dark rich colors. I like making these small pictures. The simplest object is worth examining. I think lifetimes could be spent doing this without becoming bored. I've barely begun.

Happy Birthday Dad

Here's a study in pen of a couple of what I think are white pines, as seen from the living room of my parents' apartment in North Carolina. Today is my dad's 89th birthday. He likes trees. He used to turn wood on a lathe, and design and build furniture. He would like this picture. I showed him how to navigate to this blog, so perhaps he'll find it himself. Hi dad!

Apple

An apple

More Pink Now

I was working on a study of this pink house juxtaposed with the currently blooming yellow forsythia...but it didn't come out...so this earlier picture will have to suffice. You'll just have to use your imagination and picture an intense yellow blob to the left of the porch in this picture. In the bright morning sun, its a real eye-opener.

I fear there are changes ahead for this untouched little bungalow. It appeared to be deserted, but in recent days there's been a flurry of activity resulting in a huge pile of garbage bags at the curb. Since this is Levittown, I expect someone to buy this relic, bulldoze it, and build a 3-story plastic castle in its place. That seems to be what people want these days. Sigh.

I'll be away from my computer a bit in the next week, so there will be a couple stretches without daily postings. Try your best to get through it.

Sunny Landscape

Another tantalizing morsel of Levittown, but in pencil.

Forsythia, gray day

5 x 7 inches, oil on board.
$80

A perfect easter color, a yellow not unlike that of the soft but delectable marshmallow Peep.

...and After

Happy Easter, Before

Unnatural Twin Shrubs

Or are these giant Pistachio soft ice cream cones from DQ? Whatever they are, there are a lot of them on Long Island. If I was going to force a plant into a form of my choosing, it probably wouldn't be a giant bottlebrush.

Fruit in Sun

5 x 7 inches, oil on board.
Sold

Soft fleshy round objects sunning themselves. How can you resist?

Forsythia

Everything is starting to bud and bloom now...it'll be tough to keep up. I painted this at Norma and Charles' house in Woodbury, New Jersey. They really know how to grow Forsythia out there.

This is an oil painting. Up until now I have only posted pastel drawings. From now on I'll probably skip around in medium, but will continue with the 5 x 7" size.

Trees, Morning

Also many fences. And some kind of a fir that looks like an arrow.

Afternoon Pink

The pink is a little easier to take in the late afternoon, when the light's behind it. And you can thank me for keeping the yellow forsythia screened behind the dirty window. In bright sun the yellow and the pink, right next to each other, well, she's a looker.

More Pink House

Here's another bite of pink. Too big a bite? Sorry. If we don't take big bites, we'll never get through it.

Leaves, Sun

A minature rose plant, which lives on our microwave, gets a nice long soak in the morning sun. The bit of pink belongs to its neighbor, an azalea.

Backyard Shed?

Or starter home? I guess it's all relative. Personally, I think I could live in this little castle. It isn't much smaller than some of the apartments I've lived in, it's got a window, and I like the jaunty paint job.

2 Objects In Sun

One simple, pleasing, and useful; the other annoying, incomprehensible, and most likely toxic. But dad gummit! Useful as well.

Shadows

This was done several weeks ago after our last (for the season, I hope) snowstorm. I do like shadows. And on snow, with a blue sky above, they are really quite gorgeous.

Tree, spring morning

Just a nice tree on a beautiful sunny morning, no pink houses, no electrical towers, no microwaves (these all exist just outside of the frame of this picture, though).

Window, Pink House

With a whole house actually painted this color, I thought it best to introduce it in small quantities, from a safe distance, through a window. With a shade. Don't look directly at it, and don't look too long. This is a preview. There will be more.

Greetings From the Garden State

Well, I did say that I'd put up a new drawing every day, but I was in New Jersey over the weekend and wasn't able to do so. As compensation, I offer up this landscape as seen from the NJ turnpike. Could it be time to rototill the Garden State?