Monday, January 12, 2009

Cherries, Buffalo China, Simple Simon

" Simple Simon Met a Pieman "
Oil
6"x6"
SOLD
"Simple Simon met a pieman going to the fair". I knew what I would paint when I saw this little vintage Buffalo China bowl. Maybe it's a child's bowl from a set at any rate I love it and I'm sure will use it in many future paintings.

16 comments:

Kelley Carey MacDonald said...

Someone wise has said "Paint in a series, paint what you know..." Well, girl, you KNOW cherries, and you know dinnerware! I love this is it Howard Johnson dinnerware? I just thought I recognized the image. Don't be offended if it isn't - it's very well painted. Let's see another one before you EAT those cherries!

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Thanks, Kelly. I find that the store bought cherries are too far gone sitting at room temperature overnight. The stems loose their personality. This little bowl is Buffalo China, but maybe it was made for Howard Johnson's restaurants. I'm glad you like it. I do love using red paint!

Christine Mercer-Vernon said...

really happy to see you are back to regular daily painting again. if i have to pick a fruit you paint that is 2nd after lemons as my favorite, it has to be cherries. you really capture their skin and coloring to perfection. i almost fell over the other day when i read cherries at your grocery are $10/lb. i cringe because ours are $5. i guess i should be thankful that's all they cost. hmmm.. 9 cherries, that' what $2.50? beautiful painting, wonderful colors you captured in the dish.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful painting, as usual. Can you tell me how you painted the stems? When I magnify the painting to look closely, the stems appear to be have a dark outline,with yellow highlights. Especially the cherry with the long stem that is outside the dish. How did you paint that?

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Thanks, Christine. When I went to buy these they were down to $7 a pound so 10 were $2, not bad for a model fee. Now, tomorrow I have a couple of Meyer Lemons which were $9 a pound today. It's really not bad when you consider that after their job of modeling I get to eat them! And yes, cherries are fast becoming a favorite. I keep adding more reds to my paintbox. I use a basic paletter of cad. yellow pale, cad. org. cad red light, aliz. ultramarine, thalo blue, thalo green. For lemons I add cad yellow med. yellow ochre and sap green, not necessary but it does speed things up a bit.

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Thanks, Ginny. Ah, the stems..I cringe because they aren't easy for me. Basically it's this..I tone my gessoed masonite with acrylic yellow oxide or raw sienna or burnt sienna. This one was yellow oxide. I paint all around the stems or through them if its a stroke like on the bowl edge where I don't want it to look stopped and started. Then I wipe off the stem shape with a "wipe out" tool from Jerry's Catalog. It's stiffer than the Color Shapers which are too soft for my liking. Then I paint a dark color, wipe out the center highlights add back some brighter green or ochre. It's many little steps of adding and subtracting. That's also how I paint most everything I do, lots of wipe off, scratching, adding back.

Karen Hargett said...

Beatiful color on the cherries & love the bowl.

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Thanks, Karen. Cherries in winter warm my heart! The days are getting longer! Thanks for visiting my blog.

Dean H. said...

Beautiful painting, Jennifer! Been a while since I was here last. will stop back more often.

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Thanks, Dean. I know how busy we all are and so many wonderful art bloggers to follow..who can keep up?

Janette Jones, Studio California said...

Really like your work, these cherries are fantastic...painterly, but real looking!

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Thanks, Janette. Cherries are a challenge. I observe and then premix most of the colors I see in the set-up, covering the canvas or gesso board a quickly as I can. Then I look for adjustments that need to be made especially honing in on the center of interest to make sure that is reading correctly. Finally, I quit looking at the set-up and just consider the painting to see what it needs to make it work.

Pam Holnback said...

Read your comment to Janette. I also try to pre-mix most of my colors. Your color mixes are great.

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Thanks, Pam. I will try and post a few tips I've learned that have helped my on my painting path. Thanks for visiting!

nancy said...

Jennifer,
Thanks so much for the tip of the
wipe out tool! I bought one today. I'm trying to get some perspective right and that tool was a great help!
Nancy

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Hi Nancy..yes, we forget there are other tools besides brushes and knives to paint with like rags, fingers, anything that will scratch or scrape to get the effect you want is fair game.