Seven Apple Paintings

After the first week of class, I went out and bought some produce, including an apple, an orange, a lemon, and a lime, so that I would have things to paint.  I painted the same apple 7 times before it all finally clicked.  

The first 3 times were before the second night of class.  These paintings are amusing.  The beginning ones look like an adolescent boy with really, really bad posture, who has been transformed into an apple.  He is having a bad day and is all slumped in on himself.  On a positive note, I finally was leaving some black gesso background showing through.  Prior to this, I was covering every bit of space with paint.  

At the second night of painting class, we did an exercise where you used one color per brush stroke. You don't have to change the color significantly.  This makes you think more about your brush strokes and also helps with mixing colors.  Yes, I did bring my apple to class.  Here is apple painting #4.

For homework after this class, I painted the same apple for the fifth and sixth time.  Both of these look more apple-like.

The seventh time was the charm.  I painted this on 03/20/16.  Fortunately, I painted it on hard board, rather than paper.  It's hanging in my kitchen and it makes me smile.  When I look at it, it reminds me of this first time that I was able to make the connection between seeing something and representing it in paint.