I had a peach. It didn’t sell. Now it is an orange.
I had some lanterns. I didn’t like painting them and didn’t want to finish. Now they are pomegranates.
Welcome to the land of fruits and nuts, where you can enjoy the fruits of my labor.
Whoa. That was a sprint. Three new orange oil paintings in a week’s time, begun and completed.
It is a privilege to be thought of when local businesses have Art Emergencies; it is a thrill to be able to handle those situations. I’m very happy to be able to help, and particularly happy to help out in ag and especially in citrus.
Lovies,
Your happy orange painter
It’s my blog, I’m 58 and I can make up words if I want to. Any questions?
Oh. What does “oranging” mean?
It means painting oranges, although I was just painting greens that day. Because this commission job was for 3 oil paintings in 2 weeks, I had to plan the most efficient method of delivering mostly dry paintings.
Day one: get the first layer down, all the canvas covered, the basic shapes and colors in place and the edges with one coat.
Day two: Perfect the background greens so that on. . .
Day three: sign on the green area after perfecting the orange area. Finally, put a second layer on the edges, which may or may not show. I don’t know what the framer has in mind and won’t get to see the final product.
This gives the paintings a week to dry. Would have been better to know about this job sooner, both for more time to work and also for summer’s heat, which makes for quicker drying. They might be a little tacky (in the tactile sense of the word, not the quality of the job.) But, a little pressure is sometimes a good catalyst for action.
Speaking of Samson, he is pretty tired. He’s been working the night shift lately.
Two weeks to paint three oranges, but really, only one because of a planned 2 days off and because of drying time.
No problem. . . just get outta my way! They don’t have to be truly identical, because each one will end up in a different home.
That sounded weird. If they were all in the same home, they really wouldn’t have to be identical. Never mind.
They will all be presented at the same time, so they need to be close. That way, no one says, “But I like his better!”
This is how it looked over the course of Day One at the easels.
The last step of Day One was painting layer #1 on the edges. When I return to the project in two days, they will be dry enough to put on the next layer. The second day of painting will be when I perfect all the details.
Two days isn’t some formula; it is because I teach drawing lessons on the second day and have a prescheduled appointment on the third. On day four I can continue.
They most certainly need more work. . .
A yearly customer emailed me to ask for a painting she saw on my website, but she didn’t just want that painting. She wanted four of that painting.
Well, oops. My paintings don’t get reproduced by machines; my paintings get reproduced by a paintbrush in my hand.
But wait! There’s more! She wanted them in two weeks time.
Ahem. I paint in oils. They take awhile to dry (unless it is July or August). This could be a tricky assignment.
First, I found the original painting and got in touch with the gallery showing it to set it aside for me to retrieve. This meant that I had to paint “only” three. That helps.
Second, did I even have blank canvases the right size? Yeppers, I did.
I know, you are just dying to see what painting she wants.
Tomorrow, I’ll show you what happens next.
One might think that this Central California artist’s favorite color is orange. One would be wrong, but one would be forgiven for making that assumption.
Due to her continual paintings of oranges and poppies, this would be a logical guess. But, if one thinks about Central California and what we are known for here in Tulare County, then one would come to an understanding of the apparent excessive use of the color orange.
Here are the latest oil paintings in the continuing saga of this Central California artist’s representation of the best of Tulare County.
A painter has got to paint. An artist has to art.
That didn’t work. An artist has to make art. Wait. Does a painter make paint? Nope, a painter makes paintings.
English is weird. I’ll stick to painting. Oil painting. Fruit oil paintings. These keep me busy while I am waiting for the photos for the oil painting commission.
Here are four. You saw the orange 2 days ago. 
Here are five. I added a pomegranate. 
Now there are six. The persimmon is the newest. A little hard to see these all over-exposed in the morning light. 
These are still in the early stages. More detail is needed, and the edges will have to be painted, and they need signatures.
I have to paint oranges. Otherwise, every painting would begin with the letter P.
Better add another orange. With that shadow and minus the textured skin, this looks like a peach. Whoa. Another P.
Come on, photos! I have a house to paint!
Sequoia trees and navel oranges are specialties of Central California, right here in Tulare County where I live and work as an artist (and now as an editor too).
So, I paint Sequoia trees and navel oranges. Often.
When these are dry, I’ll scan them and put them on my website for sale. Maybe I’ll put them on the blog too.
Last week we looked at 3 completed fruit paintings that included a squished orange.
I began 3 more fruit oil paintings (I AM a Central California artist, after all!) because I had 3 more of those extra thick canvases.
Then, I looped back to the squished orange and unsquished it.
Can you see the difference?
Squished.
Unsquished.
Looping around with my fruits.
My friend/customer LOVED these paintings, including the extra thick canvases. Yea!
However, I studied the orange painting and realized it isn’t symmetrically round like an orange – it is squished on the left side.
Back to the easels. . .