Pear #6, 7 & 8 - Getting Back on the Horse

"There is no such thing as a failed painting, there is only practice for a
successful one..."
                                                                                       ~ Brenda Behr

Pear #6 C - Pear on a Pedestal
7 x 5 inches, oil on canvas paper

After Pear #5, I got all excited about the idea of a series of paintings where I would keep the color scheme and main elements from that painting the same and just change around the composition. Uh, that didn't work out too well... it was as if I'd forgotten how to paint!

I had to scrap #6 A and B which put me behind schedule, so I decided to go back to the basics again and try a black and white painting. I still overworked the pear, but at least in #6 C it looked like a pear!

Pear #7
7 x 5 inches, oil on canvas board
Meh...

Someone was giving away the last of the pears from their fruit tree so I took one and didn't realize until I got back in the studio that it was a very boring pear. Too smooth, too thin. I adjusted the lighting multiple times, but couldn't get the shadows to play across the pear the way I wanted. I ended up overworking the painting and bleaching out the pear. (Not to blame my model for the shortcomings in Pear #7; I was the one holding the paintbrush, after all.) I don't mean to be completely negative about this effort. There are still a few successful elements in the piece that did manage to survive all my overworking.

Pear #8
7 x 5 inches, oil on canvas board
Overworked, but much better than previous.

Overall, I think Pear #8 was the most successful of these three paintings. I picked up a lovely curvaceous pear at the grocery store to replace my previous model (who found a nice home in the compost pile), with dimples and bumps to make the shadows happy. However, I'm still finding it difficult to put the brush down before I overwork a piece. I think I'm going to set a timer for the next painting.