Why my Avatar is a Group of Pears

Before inspiration arrived in the mail about seventeen years ago, I had worked with clay, designed jewelry, created quilts and needlework.  

Unexpectedly, nine tubes of watercolor paints and a note from my mother saying, 'Give it a try’, changed my life.  

I bought watercolor paper, a few brushes and a number of books and began to paint.

  

Pears were good subjects - their form is recognizable even if not expertly rendered.  An apple might be mistaken for a tomato or pepper but pears are pears.  One pear led to another.  I enjoyed the challenge of painting a pear that transitioned from red to green with pink, orange and yellow in between.

Big, small, lumpy, round, elongated, red, green, maroon, for nearly a year I painted only pears.

Now I paint with both oil and watercolor and create all sorts of paintings, but if I'm stuck,

stumped by a blank piece of paper or an empty canvas, I return to my patient models - pears.

This is the painting for the first in my series of fruit note cards.

 Visit my online shop to purchase note cards and paintings by  *clicking here*.

                                                                                           ---- Carol Egbert