Tomatoes!

There is nothing like a fresh summer tomato!

My son has been an organic farmer for over twenty years. Every Saturday, from May through October he has sold his veggies at a farmers market in Montpelier, VT.

I have always thought his veggie displays were beautiful...and I particularly craved his tomatoes! He carefully boxed his tomatoes so they would not be bruised. They were packed gently - no one wants a crushed tomato!

I took this photograph several years ago. I love its simplicity.

"One Turned Over"

This week I have an opportunity to put a couple pieces of artwork in an upcoming show. What about showing the photo as my inspiration along with a newly created painting?

I began by drawing all the tomatoes...and then started painting. As I painted, I kept asking myself ...was this really a good idea? It seemed like the more I painted the more I had to paint!

I got this far and had another thought... I really should have painted in the box first. I will have to paint around all those tomatoes! I probably should have started over...but the thought of painting all the tomatoes again...no way!

By the end of the afternoon I was here...

An OK start...I needed to leave it overnight. When I came back to it the following day, I was itching to get out my pastels. I really like to mix the two media. The watercolor underpainting enhances the pastel. The glow comes through. I added some highlights and tweaked here and there...

"The Taste of Vermont"

It will soon be tomato season. I can hardly wait!

I found something!

I'm still in my 'yupo-play stage'... Here's another beginning with yellows and reds. I brushed on a lot of paint. As it was drying, I took a crumbled up wet paper towel and lifted some color here and there - it added a little texture. I do love the way the paint oozes around on this paper! I put it aside to dry completely.

The next day, I gave it a good look... I like this abstract, but I didn't see any 'thing'... until, maybe...if I turn it around...

I began lifting color...it just might be..a pot of flowers! I added a little extra greenish color...

It doesn't have enough darks in it. I tried adding a little more. The problem is, that whenever I add to this paper, it gets the paint that is already on the paper wet again...and it wants to lift! This is what it looks like now. 

I may try a few more darks - on another day...

Leaves

This is another in my yupo paper study series. This time I used blue and yellow to create an abstract background. After I put the paint on the paper, I turned it around in several directions. I really like the way the paint oozes around on the paper. The blues, yellows and greens have their own ideas about where and how to mix it up! (It's kind of hard to see the delicious ooze in this small size...I tried to make it bigger and it was off the page!)

I let it dry and, of course, couldn't decide what was there. So, I took my spray bottle and lightly misted it. Interesting texture began to develop. Then I gave it a couple of strong spray shots of water and added a little more interest by lifting color with a balled up wet paper towel.

I let it dry and came back to it a few days later. (after I had done the puzzle pieces on the prior painting) I was thinking that this looked sort of lacy and I loved the color...  I got out the fun foam pieces and began to cut out leaf shapes. I think I ended up with 4 or 5 different shapes and sizes of leaves.

I wet each shape, placed it on the dry paper, picked it up and blotted the paper with a paper towel. I love this effect.

I guess the question now is, do use the whole thing or pick out some smaller portions? Lovin' the crop tool!

Who knows, I might end up with several paintings from one!

Life Interrupts - follow-up

Looking at my last post, I must say that this process on yupo paper had me somewhat stymied. I still couldn't find any 'things' in what had been done so far. Time to go back to basics.

We were told... if you like portraits, you will see faces. If you like trees and birds, you will see them. If you like water...and so forth.

Well, I like puzzles - and, this was surely a puzzle. Hmmm, maybe that's it. I began to cut out puzzle piece shapes from foam stickers. (I have had art bins for my grandchildren for years - lots of stickers to cut up!)

Since one of the properties of yupo paper is that the paint doesn't stick to it, I would try to lift some of the color. I wet a puzzle shape and gently put it on the paper. I pressed it down and then removed it. A quick blot with a paper towel, most of the paint lifts off and there is a shape!

That was interesting and fun! I experimented with two different shape cutouts and then tried to use the foam shape as a stamp. I applied paint to the stamp and put it on the paper.

A few more lifts and stamps and it just might be a piece of art...

"It's puzzling" 

A quick look at the foam cutouts... I stuck them to more foam as a backing. Easy to use...