Dragon Fruit (Pitaya)

"Dragon Fruit" 10 x 20 Oil on Panel

In June, on a trip up to NJ, I went into my favorite Korean market and was shocked in the best way to see these things. I had no idea what they were but I knew immediately they were getting painted.

"Dragon Fruit Study" 6 x 8 Oil on Panel

 Because they are called Dragon Fruit, I thought it would be an interesting composition to arrange them like a Chinese Dragon you would see at a New Years celebration. I don't know why they reminded me of that they just did.

 Here is a shot of them finished, but before I put the background in. This is my favorite look of the painting and if I could make a living just leaving them like this, I would.

Several people have asked what they are so I thought I would include a shot of the set-up so that you all can see the actual Dragon Fruit.

 They are actually VERY difficult to paint. The only thing harder was a pineapple. The green "fingers" (I like to call them) turn colors rapidly and move slightly each day making them hard to keep in the same position.  What would you expect from a Dragon though right?

This is what they look like cut open. I always like to try something I paint. I was not overwhelmed with the flavor. They were surprisingly bland considering the look of them. A little grainy, and not very sweet. Although I could have just had a bad one. One website describes them as being between a kiwi and a pear which is close but not a perfect description. 

 

 Also known as Pitaya, they grow primarily in warm, wet climates like Vietnam and Thailand. There are also yellow Dragon Fruit, but I didn't find them as interesting to paint. I think it is interesting the way that they grow and would love to do a larger painting like the photo to the left.

"Dragon Fruit" 10 x 20 Oil on Panel

Available $2,000.00 

 I like the way they look in frames so here are a few shots of them. The above is for sale through this blog. I have a paypal link set-up but if you would prefer to mail a check send me an email at info@clintonhobart.com

Brie And Figs

SOLD

I always enjoy painting Figs but this is the first time I have tried one with the very dark background.
I was pleasantly surprised out how cool figs look on a dark background. I like to think of the figs as little universes or nebula, so I guess a dark background is fitting...Wish I'd thought of it sooner!

7 x 12 Oil on Panel

Figs!! ...and A Couple Of Cherries

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 I love painting figs. I thing if you glance at this blog once in a while you already know that but I'll say it again anyway. They remind me of little galaxies or nebula. Each one is slightly different, with different shapes and colors - I never get tired of painting them.

I also picked up some cherries to go with them, but for the one above I went with all figs. They pretty much fell on the table like that and I liked it so much I left them that way.

6 x 8 Oil on Panel

SOLD

I had a really long day yesterday. I had to drive down to Palm Beach to drop off a painting, then I went to a figure drawing session. After that I came home and started working on the Figs at the top. By the time I got done it was around midnight. I thought I had a bit of energy left so I started this one.
I finished it today. I call it finished even though it is a mostly unfinished study. I think I like it as much as some of my finished work!

Cezanne's Apples Do Not Make Me Cry

"I will astonish Paris with an apple" Cezanne was famously quoted as saying. He apparently did astonish Paris with his apples. But every time I see his work I wonder why? Was it because he told everyone he would and so everyone believed him? I don't know. I'm tired of hearing people get all choked up over these apples. They say Cezanne painted hundreds of apples. Well, I've painted hundreds of apples too, and I don't see in Cezanne's paintings what attracts me to keep painting apples. I have to wonder, what it is that everyone else seems to see that I don't.

 In my opinion, Cezanne's apples are only about one thing - Cezanne. Look at the picture to the left. Honestly ask yourselves, does he really care about these apples or is it just brushwork? Are the apples treated differently? Personally I don't think so. I think all of these apples are treated the exact same way, and I don't get a sense that Cezanne loves the apples. I get a sense that Cezanne loves Cezanne.


A painting should never be solely about how well it was painted.  So much realism is done with tracing and grids, it just sucks the life out of the work. When I paint apples, I am looking at the personalities of the apples. In the painting to the right, titled "All Sorts Of Apples" I deliberately picked different apples. It may be difficult to see, but the third apple from the right, the golden delicious, has a stripe on it. I have never seen an apple with a stripe on it and picked it up immediately like a piece of gold. My painting is about the apples.

If Cezanne's were the only paintings that looked like that, I might be more inclined to like them. My issue is with the hundred thousand bad copies out there because people are imitating this style and constantly being told how wonderful he is. Why not do something new, something different? If I see one more apple painted like Cezanne I'll....well, I'll do nothing but rant in another Blog post about it. And don't just repeat how wonderful he is, think about it! Is he wonderful? Why is he wonderful? Who told you he was wonderful and who told them he was wonderful and who told them he was wonderful...you get the idea. I think it can get traced all the way back to Cezanne telling someone he was wonderful and now everyone repeats it.

Look at this painting to the left that everyone raves about how great it is. What is so great about it? Really? I'm asking you? The painting itself has no depth, it's flat. The perspective on the table isn't even close, the apples would roll right off of it. And the apples once again are all treated the same way. If Cezanne were to teach a class I think he could call it, "Painting Without Trying". I realize that when this was painted it was something that had really not been seen often so it's popularity comes from a sense of being different, but is that enough? Painting  is the only field where the rules can go out the window and people still love it. Would you listen to a song where the musician tossed out all of the rules...nope, it would be unbearable to listen to, something like Primus I would guess, but even worse. Would you read a book where the writer tossed them out? Could you read that book? Try reading Naked Lunch and imagine it about ten times worse...How about eat at a restaurant where the cook tossed the rules out? "Hmm how about I put some raisins in the fried chicken batter and some chili powder in the rice pudding"..No huh? Fly in an airplane where the pilot said "OK, no rules today on this flight!  You be scared out of your mind...One last one - would you live in a building if you knew that the architect tossed out the rules when he designed it? - "Support beams?  Nah, who needs support beams...and all of the electrical outlets will be on the ceiling"...yeah, that would work. The basic rules to painting are: Learn to draw well, study values, composition, perspective, color, and learn how to mix the paint well enough so that it doesn't get muddy.

We have a tendency to like what we are told to like without every really thinking too hard about why. Sometimes I have to force myself to look at a situation with fresh eyes. Cezanne's apples do not make me cry, in fact they don't make me feel anything at all. It's just a painting where everything in it is treated the same way. If I had never seen this before and a student brought this into my class, I would tell them to pay more attention to the objects in the painting. Do a few sketches, study perspective, and try again. I don't see this as brilliant, I see it as lazy painting.

I am also aware that no matter how hard I try, I will never be able to look at this painting with fresh eyes. It would be like seeing the 1931 version of Frankenstein and trying to pretend that you haven't seen a thousand versions of it since. It's difficult to do that.

I'm sure that this post is going to create some thoughts like: I'm full of myself, I compared myself to Cezanne, who am I to argue with history, and of course some comment like I wish I had his money. My point is that I am not just going to say I like or love a painting because everyone else loves it, nor am I going to copy the style because I like it, or it is popular. There are many impressionistic paintings and painters that I do love, Degas, and Monet just to name two, but I have no plans to copy their styles any time soon either.

"Night In The Tropics"

When I originally started the idea of doing these long paintings on a dark background the plan was to have all of the objects the same. Apples on the first one, then pears, etc. I always like painting these tropical paintings so I wanted to see how one looked on a dark background... The coconut really pops! Once again the background is not painted solid black but is actually a deep brown, painted in several layers. That gives it far more depth then if it had been painted with a solid color. The photo really isn't doing this one justice. The details in the bananas for example are a little washed out.

10 x 20 Oil on Panel

SOLD

Inspiration, Who Waits For Inspiration!

The subject of inspiration seems to come up quite a bit. Students ask me where I get it, friends complain about not having it, it's usually a question in interviews, and books and movies about art dwell on it. But what exactly is it, and what causes it? Honestly, I have no idea. I think someone made it up because it sounded good.

My favorite quote on the subject is by Jack London:
     “You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”

The truth is, you don't always have inspiration and you can't wait for it. Anyone who makes a living from the sale of their work knows this. I realized this very early on in my career. When I was in art school, I wasn't always interested in the model that was posing and I quickly noticed that I did far better drawings when I was interested in the model. I'd like to add here that it had nothing to do with physical attraction. Very often a young pretty girl would be posing and I'd do horrible drawings, and other times we would have a fat, bald, guy and I would have a great drawing day.
What I was interested in, even back then, was figuring out how to "turn on" for lack of a better word, the "inspiration" on the days when it didn't show up. I figured that if the inspiration wasn't real, maybe I could fake it. I began reading acting books. What I found was the best book I have ever read on art, a book called "On Acting" by Sanford Meisner

As I continued to study I  realized that inspiration was a complete a myth. I don't believe the word is used correctly at all and I would say that painters who claim to be "inspired" are actually just motivated. Before I go on lets actually take a look at the meaning of the word:

Inspiration -

1. a : a divine influence or action on a person believed to qualify him or her to receive and communicate sacred revelation

b : the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions

2. the act of drawing in; specifically : the drawing of air into the lungs

3. the quality or state of being inspired

Inspired - outstanding or brilliant in a way or to a degree suggestive of divine inspiration.
 to exert an animating, enlivening, or exalting influence on.

Motivate - 
To provide with an incentive; move to action; impel.

I don't know about any of you but motivated is a far better description of how I actually work then inspired. I know we are basically talking about word usage. It's the same as misusing the word "awesome"  That apple pie was awsome!!!!! - No it wasn't...It may have been really, really,  good, but unless it grabbed the ice cream and did a waltz on the table, it probably wasn't "awesome".

The main difference is that "inspiration" by definition is given, "motivation" is up to you. It can be found, and created, called at will, you carry it with you. I don't think it comes from someone or something else. There is no metaphysical superstition in motivation and admittedly, it doesn't sound as impressive. If all of the creepy painters or lame photographers out there were to approach a woman at the supermarket with "I am highly motivated to paint you" no one would do it, they would walk away laughing, but hit em with "I am INSPIRED by the heavens above and all of creation, to make a nude painting of YOU, or just take some slightly tasteless pictures, and Whamo!!  -you have yourself a model.

"I recently made a comparison of painting and cooking where inspiration is the recipe. You can sit around and wait for someone to bring you an apple pie, hope the restaurant you are going to has one, or you can break out the recipe, go and get the ingredients and make one.
When I am working on a still-life, I don't wait for the skies to open up and a voice to say "GOOOOO PAAAAAINT APPPPPLES.....again" I get up, go to the grocery store with the intention of painting something, and then I look for something I want to paint. The motivation comes from seeing something I want to paint. An apple with certain spots on it or a funky stem. An odd shaped pear, etc, or anything with personality. Sometimes, but not often, the grocery stores have nothing I am interested in, and then I just pick something out and go to the acting. I can't afford to just say oh well, no inspiration at the grocery store today, guess I will just go home, watch movies and eat Cheetos.

Anyone who has ever done a commission has woken up in the morning on at least one day of it and thought "oh geez, I don't feel like working on this today"

What makes you paint when inspiration doesn't show up? Motivation.
And I find motivation everywhere. Most people motivate me to paint, vegetables, things I see in antique stores, tea sets, eggshells, movies, the ocean, and on and on. Motivation is everywhere!!!
The idea of just painting to get better is motivation enough most of the time, and it doesn't matter what I paint, just put it in front of me and I'll paint it!

Red Delicious Apple And Bing Cherries

I never get tired of painting cherries. The stems always do different things and make each painting unique. I also like red on a grey background. I am working on another tropical painting right now for this sunday and had wanted to get a study of bananas up for auction tonight but I am still working on it so this one went up instead and the bananas will go up next week.

6 x 8 Oil On Panel - Up For Auction!

SOLD

Mushrooms!

SOLD

I just spent a week back home in NJ. I had to cram a ton into one short week and I didn't even come close to doing everything I had wanted to. Right by my families house is an Asian supermarket. They have my favorite mushrooms to paint...some of you may have seen them here before. I had planned on making the painting in NJ but I just didn't have time, so I thought I would bring them back with me to Florida. I picked up two bags of the King Trumpet, A bag of the Oyster Mushrooms, and a few others and packed up a big foam cooler to keep them cold on the drive.

I figured I had enough mushrooms to do at least four or five paintings and Jordan (My girlfriend) loves painting them too so I was glad to have enough to go around. 

Mushrooms shrivel up and die pretty much overnight and there really isn't anyhing you can do about it except paint fast! To the right is how the above painting looked after three hours. I considered calling it finished so that I could call it "Alla Prima", but decided to add the darker shadows the next day.

The Minnie above is up for Auction! 6 x 8 Oil on Panel  

Above is the longer one I am working on which will get a separate blog post this week.

I drove 900 miles with a cooler full of mushrooms just to paint them. (I don't eat the slimy little things). Jordan and I laughed about how people who don't know us will wonder why we are both posting auctions of the same mushrooms, at the same time, on the same week. 

Her little mushroom painting as adorable!

Here is a link to her blog for a look at it:

http://javeryfoster.blogspot.com/

Rainier Cherries And an Apple

Usually when I plan on doing a larger painting like a 10 x 20, I buy far more objects then I actually need...and I make a Minnie out of the leftovers. I had to buy a pound of the cherries, that was the only way they were sold so I have enough to make ten paintings, but I ate many already. The are really good!
6 x 8 Oil on Panel
SOLD

Apples and Rainier Cherries

When I saw the Rainier Cherries I never expected them to be as difficult to paint as they actually were. The photo washed them out a bit. There are more colors in the cherries in person and they are a bit richer. I couldn't believe how many different variations of color could fit into something so small.
I tried to find apples that matched the colors of the cherries.The background is again painted in layers so that it is dark but also transparent making it richer and giving it depth. I prefer that to painting the background a solid dark color.

8 x 16 Oil on Panel
SOLD