
I am very excited to present my newest painting "Fresh Modern Pears". It was created specifically for the July 2014 "Ripped Off" exhibit here on EBSQ. I paired up (pun intended) with Torrie Smiley who is well known for her beautiful still life paintings featuring fruit, especially pears! I have loved her artwork for many years.
This is the first time I have ever painted something for the "Ripped Off" exhibit. For years, I felt like I was an art student who had not found my own voice and I would just be copying someone else's painting. Though I am still learning, I think I finally feel like I have my own style - my own watercolor voice, as you might say. I think this is why I finally felt confident enough to contact one of my favorite artists and enter this exhibit.
Torrie's pear paintings are always my favorites. It was hard to narrow down what I was going to "Rip Off". I finally settled on two of her paintings, "The Spring Pear" and "Fresh Red Pears" as my inspiration. (see photos below). I loved the the design of of the 3 red pears for my 11"x14" painting, and yet, I wanted to us the color scheme of the green pear.
Torrie paints in acrylic and has some wonderful brush strokes and texture in her paintings. I paint in watercolor, but I attempted to capture the texture of her paintings in several ways. I used rough press paper which allows my granulating watercolor paints to create more texture. I also painted many different layers and finished the pears off with some spattering to give a soft textured look (see close up).
This was a really fun painting to do and I am so thankful to Torrie for letting me partner with her. I was able to learn a lot, expand my new "modern" painting techniques, and put my own style on her beloved pear still life paintings.