Thursday, May 28, 2009

Past to Present


In my past, I've worked at lots of "arty" jobs, from painting faces on mannequins during my years in art school to doing calligraphy and creating computer graphics and architectural renderings as a free lance artist. Maybe my most challenging and rewarding job (and it was way more than just a job) was teaching art, K to 12, in public schools in Massachusetts and Virginia, most recently at Needham High School in Needham, Massachusetts.
When, after fifteen years in the classroom, I left teaching to return to the studio, my first series was watercolor still lifes of pears. The pears themselves and the ways I could arrange them reminded me of the students I missed and the relationships between and among them! So, in this painting called, "Gossip", the lovely, rounded, human-like pear shapes with "talking stems" captured a real sense of a difficult relationship.

These pear paintings amused me and kept me entertained. So, I continued on, depicting a variety of pears in a variety of situations. Different pears had different personalities--and organic pears were the most interesting. They had bumps and unusual shapes and just begged to be included.


"Hide" is the name of this second painting. I loved working with a limited palette and juxtaposing the softness of the fruit with the crispness of the folded paper. And, although in the present I've moved on to more abstract work, these realistic pear watercolors still have a special place in my heart....


2 comments:

  1. Lovely...the tones in the shadows are intriguing. I want to see them in person.

    carol

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  2. a special place in my heart too

    jonathan

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