Sketchbook blog

Brightly painted wood rounds full of fruit I've gone a little crazy with painting fruit for Art-o-mat this summer. This cherry from my Mini Masterpiece collection owes its origins to the painters like Matisse who were Fauvists. Fauvism (1899-1908) was a twentieth century art movement made of up artists who called themselves les Fauves , or the “wild beasts.” Painters like Matisse, Cézanne, Gaugin, and Seurat contributed to this style and composed still life paintings with fruit in vivid brushwork and bold colors. In this Art-o-mat package, I have depicted a subject (like blueberries, which are a superfood!) in a Fauvist style.   I hope these miniature originals brightened your day with hopeful, uplifting color. My almost 2 year old, Nate, thinks these wood rounds are puzzle pieces. He and Alex like to "help me" work on them. While I worked on this batch last Father's Day weekend, we were missing our

Latest Batch of Mini Masterpieces for Art-o-mat I never realized until now that my love for eating fruit would come out in my artwork. Banana I kid you not that this banana was originally going to be the moon from Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night" painting. Orange In fact, while on a business trip to Washington, D.C., I had read 3 books on the life and work of Vincent Van Gogh.  I have no reason to provide you with why I painted an orange next -- except that I really wanted to add an iridescent gold highlight. Strawberry All of the fruit represented here was inspired by Fauvist painters including American painter Alfred Maurer, French artist Henri Matisse, and even Paul Cezanne.  However, I really enjoy Auguste Renoir's treatment of strawberries in this late Impressionist painting from 1905. And besides, who doesn't love strawberries? Pineapple My goal was to capture the fun and vibrant nature of each fruit.  In