Visiting my Mother - and Painting

I visited my Mother for a few days.  I took my oil painting supplies and was determined to paint while I was there.  I ended up doing two paintings.

One day we took a 90-minute drive from Rome, GA to Ellijay, GA.  When I was growing up (4th grade) our family moved to Ellijay where my father was the pastor at Watkins Memorial Methodist Church.  Apples are a big deal in Ellijay, and I was eager to go there and buy some apples and to see Ellijay again.  It has been probably 15 or more years since I've been there.

We visited two apple barns - the Penland Orchard and Panorama Orchard.  The Penland Orchard is owned by the family of a friend from our childhood, Marty Teem.  The Panorama Orchard is owned by the family of a former church member from Ellijay, the Stembridges.   I bought lots of apples - and lots of apple-related products (dried apples, apple crisp mix, apple muffins mix, local honey, apple cider, fried apple pies, apple fritters).

To commemorate the day, I wanted to paint an apple-themed picture.  I looked online for inspiration, and found this photo which I THOUGHT was from either Penland Orchard or Panorama Orchard.  As it turned out, when I rechecked the photo online, I found that it came from the website of Reece Orchard in Ellijay instead. Oh well.  I thought it was a pretty photo and would be simple to paint.

However, I'm not pleased with the painting.  It is so-so, at best.  I tried to do some Derek Penix-style "fracturing" of lines.  LOL!  Derek definitely does it much better than I do.  And again, my colors are lacking.  I'm actively looking for some classes or workshops on color mixing.  I have trouble SEEING colors.  I tend to see the "local color" without really seeing how light and shadows change it. 

Then I went around my mother's house and took photos of things I liked.  In her family room, she has a long "camp meeting" table.  It's a table that was in their cabin at the Indian Spring Camp Meeting in Georgia.  On the table, she has a vase a yellow silk roses.  Yellow roses are my favorite, and so I thought I would paint that vase.  Here is the photo:

And here is my painting.  I have such a struggle with flowers, which is frustrating because I LOVE flowers so much.  I initially wasn't thrilled with the painting.  However, it has really grown on me, and now I'm on the verge of really loving it.

Yellow Roses on Indian Springs Table

Soft yellow roses

On a camp meeting table

In my mother’s house

Those two were my only paintings for the few days I was at my mother's.  Since they were wet, I had a dilemma about how to get them home.  I had driven to my mother's in my new convertible, and I wasn't about to risk getting wet paint on the seats or carpet.  I went to Publix, bought two cheap frozen pizzas.  Put the pizzas in a cooler to take home, and packed each painting in a separate pizza box. It worked well.  By the time I got home, the pizzas were totally thawed, and I cooked them for dinner.  LOL!  And the paintings are now on the drying rack in my studio upstairs.