Living in Western North Dakota, our produce selection is generally like a balding, grumpy, middle-aged man… The raging snowy arctic winds and 1,000s of road miles the produce has to travel to reach us usually leaves somewhat of a mark on both the quality and quantity available. When good produce arrives, it’s a treat, and much to my delight, lately our citrus has been the highlight of the produce department, dishing out remarkably delicious morsels despite the trek they have to endure to end up in my northern pantry.
Ryan has been working long days in the freezing weather so I like to cook him dinner to help him forget all about the discomfort the prior 15 hours have subjected him to. Grapefruit is always a favorite of his. Today I married his love for the sour citrus fruit with my joy of painting and cooking. VOILA! Citrus salad.
Shout out to my little thrift store lamp which was functional and beautiful in this composition
Around 7 am this morning I began setting up my still life composition… come 10:45 am I was packing up my painting kit and rushing out the door to get my day rolling with plans.
Now here’s the good part, the sandwich filling to my 7:00-10:45 am painting adventure:
This little 6x6in painting was done on one of my aluminum squares that has a dark maroon underpainting. It was interesting to paint on such a dark surface! A few things I learned:
- The red panel instantly made my paints appear greenish as I put them down so I added a lot of red to my palette as I went.It helped my painting end up a little warmer than I think it would have otherwise.
- My yellow paint is very thin! It took intentional laying down to fully cover the dark underpainting Drawing my composition with a very dark value wasn’t much of an issue when trying to keep paints clean and pure.
- I would do it again!
Premixing my colors in generous quantities was a definite win today. I didn’t run out of anything important.
In all, this was an enjoyable and gratifying painting to make. I finished feeling hungry for more studio time and proud of what I created. Here are some progress pictures.
Thank you to Tim Ferris and his guests Cal Newport and Michael Gervais for keeping me in good company as I worked!