Strawberries in a Bowl

I started this painting... hmmm... maybe 2 1/2 years ago. I read about my quilting friends having UFOs (which I think stands for UnFinished Object or something like that... They never really say). They seem to have a lot of them. I'm really not too bad at having unfinished painting projects.  I usually start something and finish it before going on to the next one.

My painting partner Julie and I used this little still life when we taught two beginning oil painting classes.  I think you'll notice a pretty obvious clue as to when this class took place.  (I suppose there's no need to blur out faces when you can't see them anyway!)

When we team-teach, we also team-paint.  One will talk about a step in the process while the other paints it, then we switch.  The other talks about the next step while the first works on the painting. We paint quickly and don't particularly finish anything as the purpose is just to model the process. Anyway, we end up with a couple of unfinished paintings (UFOs, I suppose.)

After the classes, I brought one of them home and put it in the art room intending to go back over the whole thing, spruce it up, finish it. 

But... life... terrible ice storms... grandson born... time in the NICU... kept granddaughters... COVID... dad got COVID... time in hospice...  family in town... life stuff, you know... The little painting got under art room stuff and was forgotten.

The other day I read a meme that said something like this, "Statistics show that people who have messy art spaces and too many art supplies tend to live longer lives than those who point it out."

Anyway, after rediscovering it, I gave it new life. 

Original Oil Painting on 8"x 8" Wrapped Canvas

Click Strawberries in a Bowl if you'd like to purchase this little painting.

Strawberries in a Bowl (Mini Version)

Each semester, my painting partner, Julie, and I teach a beginning oil painting class for the senior citizen branch of the University of Arkansas. This happy little still life is what we'll be working on this spring... That is, we'll be working on this if we're able to meet. (Please, COVID, just go away! Please unvaccinated people, just change your minds and roll up your sleeves!)

If we're going to teach it to beginners, we need to have a tried-and-true plan that's as simple as possible.  And, I want to feel completely at ease with each step of the process.  That means practice doing the whole painting and also making examples of of each phase of the painting.

The class will take place in two 2-hour sessions.

Here's a little half-minute video of the process we'll be guiding them through. 

I did this little one for my art exchange group where artists from different countries and states take part.  Every quarter we're given a theme then paired up to exchange a postcard-sized piece of art and letter. It was a good excuse to practice painting this one more time.  This mini version of Strawberries in a Bowl is for to my paired partner Hanne in Denmark.

Original Oil Painting on 5"x 7" Canvas Board

[GIFT - ART EXCHANGE]

TWOGETHER - Artistic Collaborations

Such a fun project! 

Before I explain these two paintings, first you need to read the letter below to understand how they came about.

Ahhhh...

Clever!

My painting partner Julie (You'll have to have a look at her paintings. Click JujuBee Paints to have a look.) was invited to be a part of this upcoming exhibit. All we had to do was think up a great idea... tick... tock... chirp... chirp... nothing... and the deadline for submissions was drawing closer and closer.

Then... Ah ha ha!!! An idea appeared!

• 1st - We decided that we wanted our paintings to have some commonalities... similar theme or type or size or color palette.
• 2nd - We talked about logistics of being able to complete this project and set some goals.  We'd complete first phase in the first sitting and commit to finish the next part by the end of the week.
• 3rd - We settled on doing a fruit still life and  looked through reference photos.  When we came across the spilled basket of peaches and remembered that we'd seen a spilled basket of strawberries, we knew that was it. (Ok, I also had a photo of a spilled basket of limes, which I almost picked, and a spilled basket of cherries.  Clearly I have a thing for spilled fruit... I do know why... It's because I so love the painting at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art by Thomas Decker.  Click. A trip through the museum isn't complete without taking a minute to stand in front of it.)
• 4th - We basically turned our backs on each other and began the backgrounds.  We didn't discuss what colors we'd use or what style we'd paint in.  Now, we weren't in any way trying to trick each other or to make it difficult for the other.  We each decided what we thought would look the very best with the subject that would come next.
• 5th - At the end of the evening (ha ha ha) with lots of giggling, we switched canvases.  Julie went home to put the basket of strawberries on my background, and I put Julie's background on my easel to put the basket of peaches on it.

Eeeekkkk!!!! Switch-er-oo!!

Thank you to Jan Brandt for inviting Julie to participate!

Thank you to Julie for inviting me to be her collaborator!

Basket and Peaches by Helen Eaton

Background by Julie Brandt

Basket and Strawberries by Julie Brandt

Background by Helen Eaton

Original Oil Paintings on 11"x 14" Wrapped Canvas

Both paintings will be on display and for sale at TWOGETHER at Jan Brandt Gallery in Bloomington, Illinois.

Basket of Strawberries

I set up this still life that reminds me of my favorite painting at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.  There are hundreds of beautiful works of art there, but my favorite, favorite, favorite painting is "Basket of Peaches". I have to go stand in front of it for a few minutes every time we go. 

And, yes, I did paint my own version of "Basket of Peaches". One might be worth a million dollars more than the other, but I love them both.

Basket of Peaches
Joseph Decker - 1885
In Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Basket of Peaches
Helen Eaton - 2013
in my sister-in-law, Karen's kitchen

I'm pretty sure this will be the end of my strawberry series.

I'm not saying I'll never paint another strawberry, but it will be a while. 

Strawberry Ice Cream

Strawberry Girl

Strawberries

Strawberries & Blackberries

A Great Big Strawberry

Bowl of Strawberries

Original Oil Painting on 11" x 14" Wrapped Canvas

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One Great Big Strawberry

Strawberries have pretty much been the theme of my summer.  I've eaten them, picked them, eaten them, frozen them, painted them, eaten them...  

I've been wanting to do an oversize painting, so this worked out nicely.  You can tell by the photo that I snapped in my studio that this one is juuuusssstttt a little bit bigger than the last strawberry painting.  I have no idea whether anyone will want to buy this one or not.  But, in the mean time, I'm going to enjoy this big beauty on my own wall.

I shared a strawberry memory with each of my first two strawberry paintings, so I'll share another.  

Below is the e-mail I sent to my nieces, Beverly and Amy, after I visited a local strawberry farm.

Amy & Bev,

This morning Ron & I went to a strawberry farm. 

I hadn’t been to or even thought about a strawberry farm since......

It’s funny how the oddest things trigger long forgotten, yet vivid memories.

When I was about nine years old, your dad brought your mom home.  She was beautiful. She was so daring.  She wore hip-huggers, had her ears pierced, and said “dad gum.” Wow... and grandpa let her stay in our house!! :)  She made me a little nervous, but I loved her.

When I was about 10 they got married, and I got to spend a week with them every summer. One year I stayed a little longer to help them  out.  She was pregnant with you.  It must have around July 4th because I remember going to my first really big fireworks show. It was so hot!  And, she was huge.

Your dad went to work every day, so your mom and I hung out.  One day she wanted to go to a strawberry farm.  I pulled a little flat wagon, and she waddled along beside me.  Poor thing was so swollen her feet wouldn’t fit in shoes; she she wore these funny flip-flops. We picked and picked... Then she got overheated... Well, looking back... duh... It was 100 degrees... She was 8 months pregnant with two babies... and she was bending over to pick! I got her to sit down between the rows... No shade in a strawberry field... No such thing as a water bottle back then... She was determined that she’d be ok, but was dizzy and just “needed a few minutes.”  I let her sit and finished filling our buckets.  Then there was another problem... we couldn’t get her big self up off the ground.  By that point we were laughing so hard. I was pulling; she was rolling to one side then the other, feet slipping out from under her... We finally did get her up and back to the car.  I don’t think I was 16 yet because  it was a big deal that I wasn’t really a driver yet, but I drove us home.  That was another comedy of errors because I was so short, I could barely reach the pedals... compound that with the fact that she had to have the seat back so far because she  (you guys) were sticking out so far that her belly was to the steering wheel. 

I don’t really remember the end of this story... I guess we made it home, put her on the couch in the air conditioning, and had lots of strawberries.  Then she had two little baby girls a month later who grew up to be beautiful women and lived happily ever after.

So...

A memory that had been locked safely away for 35 years... unlocked today by a strawberry patch...

I just thought you might like me to share it with you.

Love,

Aunt Helen

Original Oil Painting on 20"x 20" Wrapped Canvas
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Strawberry Ice Cream

I've never been an artist who chooses to do paintings based on a series, but I think I might be working on one right now. This is my second strawberry-inspired painting.  If I do a third, I think that makes it a series!

I wrote in my last post, that my strawberry picking adventure brought back so many long forgotten memories. It really did.  I know that I got my love for gardening from my mother; she the main gardener in my family. Being at her side as her little partner, she taught me so much that I never even knew I was learning.

I love the vegetables that I harvest, but my garden now is kind of... cute. My parents' garden was for food production; cute was never part of their plan.
We had long rows of corn, beans, tomatoes, and other vegetables along the side of our house, but in the back, beside the peach trees, we had a strawberry patch.  Every memory that comes to mind involves being bent over, (You do a lot of bending over in a strawberry patch.) I was a little thing, but I knew to put the runners back into the soil bed and out of the path.  I knew not to bother the little yellow and white blooms.  I knew that if I didn't bother the bees, they wouldn't bother me. I knew to gently check under the big three leaf greenery. I knew not to pick the almost red ones yet.  As I got older, I knew to walk slowly down the row with the water hose.  I knew to use a grapefruit spoon to cap the leaves off the top when we were getting them ready to freeze. I also knew how much sugar to pour on them. (But, I have to say that I have tried to un-learn that.)  And, I learned that the best way to eat a strawberry is when it's still warm from the sun... before it's been cooled or cut or washed... I know that horrifies some... a quick blow gets (most of) the dirt off and leaves 100% of the flavor.

I also remember that she often gave me a piece of Juicy Fruit gum to chew whenever we were about to go out and pick.  Yum!! That was always a treat... or... wait... was it a trick to keep me from eating the berries as I picked!

My mama is 89. Last week I sat on the porch with her one afternoon.  She rocked and I peeled peaches for about three hours. She asked me, "What did you learn when you were growing up with me?"  I thought of enough things that it pretty much filled the afternoon with conversation.

Thank you to Reagan Family Farms for bringing back such sweet memories.

Original Oil Painting on 8"x 8" Wrapped Canvas
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And while you're clicking, check out my niece's blog, Adventures in Our Urban Landscape. She's the next-generation gardener, and I think she's found the balance between food production, beauty, and heritage. 
Imagine how much her kids are learning! 
I wonder if she gives them Juicy Fruit when they help pick... I'll have to ask. :)

Strawberries in a Bowl

There's nothing quite like a just-picked strawberry still warm from the sun, never been washed, never been in the refrigerator... Mmmmm.....

A few Saturdays ago, we went to a local strawberry farm and had the best time!  First of all, the whole place was simply beautiful and happy, and it brought so so many long-forgotten memories to mind. There were beehives, roosters, chickens, a tractor, a friendly farmer, and rows and rows of ripe strawberries... I loved it!  I know I'll be doing quite a few paintings of strawberries this summer, so I'll share some of the fond strawberry memories that were brought back with next paintings.

I'll start with a funny (actually pitiful) conversation with my city-boy husband as we were driving across town to get there.

HIM: We forgot to bring gloves or wear long sleeves?

ME: Huh?

HIM: I thought we were supposed to wear gloves or long sleeves to pick berries.

ME: What? We're going to pick strawberries.

HIM: Do they not have thorns?

ME: Seriously? Have you never picked strawberries? Ever?

HIM: They don't have thorns?

ME: Noooo.

HIM: Do they grow on trees?

ME: Oooooohhhh... bless your heart... No, dear, they don't have thorns or grow on trees.

So we picked and picked and picked; he was a good strawberry pickin' partner.  We ended up with way more than we needed, but it was just so hard to stop! And, yes, we did indeed stop at the store on the way home for a tub of vanilla ice cream. :)

If you can't go in person, go visit the Reagan Family Farm on Facebook.

I submitted this little painting to The Naked Artists June challenge.  Their words for this month were ethereal, red, water, asymmetrical, and three.   

• I read that strawberries are 92% water, but let's be honest... It's the other 8% that we love most.
• When I checked the definition of ethereal, I found the words "too perfect for this world... mmmm... :) If you'd have tasted these... mmmmmm...
• Well, they are all technically asymmetrical, but I sure did try to choose the ones that were perfectly shaped.
• At least strawberries are red; I don't have to stretch it for that one.

Original Oil Painting on 5"x 7" Wrapped Canvas
[SOLD] 

Strawberries

Do they make your mouth water?

Whenever I don't know what to paint next, I go to the refrigerator.  This time I had some strawberries that I'd bought at the Farmers' Market. 

I always struggle to set up my still lifes to make them look natural, like the strawberries just happened to be dropped there.  I think this one worked.

And photo-bombing the shots... Really Pounce?... This is the best place you could find to lay around?

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Strawberries & Blackberries

What is the taste of summer?

Mmmm.... that's a hard one...
... so many vegetables and fruits... 

There's nothing like picking a berry, giving it a little blow to knock off (most of) the garden dirt, and taking a bite! Right at that moment when it's still warm from the sun and juicy from the vine, it's the best flavor ever.

When I was a kid, my two neighbors and I picked wild blackberries and sold them on the dirt road beside our mailbox for 50 cents a quart jar.  (I bought a quart of them at the farmers' market last Saturday for 6 dollars! And, I didn't even get to keep the box they were in.)

We had a certain routine for our blackberry picking - and I want to say in advance that nearly every bit of this whole process seems completely unsafe and just wrong now; however, back in the 70s, it kept us from getting bored.

• Walk down the trail behind my house to the lake. (but stay a few feet away)
• Toss rocks into the blackberry patch. (to scare all the snakes away)
• Put in a fresh stick of juicy fruit gum. (the sweet flavor would keep us from eating what we picked so that our jars would fill faster)
• Take high steps so that our feet would go straight down into the vines. (to keep from getting as many scratches on our legs)
• Glance behind and under the berries. (just in case a snake hadn't heard the warning rocks earlier)
• Stick an arm straight in, pick the berries, then bring the arm right out the exact same way. (to avoid all the stickers)
• Fill the jar
• Get the sign "Blackberries 50 Cents" and lawn chairs and wait by the mailbox.
• Hop up and run to the edge of the road whenever a car of big truck was coming.
• Make the sale.
• Split the money.

Well, we never got drowned in the lake; we never got bit by a snake, we often did get scratched by the thorns; we never got hit by one of the oncoming cars; and we never got rich from our berry sales.

I'd forgotten all about this process until I was working on this painting.  It was tricky for me to figure out how to make these purple and red blobs look like actual berries.  I had to stop thinking about them as berries and study the highlights, shadows, lost edges, and reflections.  Then... voila... It still amazes me when it works!

I did this painting as a challenge for Studio Atelier.  Visit the site.  It's fun to see the varied styles and versions all done from the same image.

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