Saturday, March 03, 2007


"Fox & Alstromeria" -- oil on canvas -- 48x36"
After weeks of painting dismally depressing scenes of Michigan in winter (and freezing my bones, standing out there in it!) I had to take a break to do some bright, fiery indoor still lifes. Where did I get this fox? Several years ago I walked into the last minutes of an estate sale. Actually, it was a "demolition sale". It was in one of the rich suburbs of Detroit, where people buy perfectly good houses -- and then demolish them an have monster-size houses built. Since the house was to be torn down the next day, all the electricity had been shut off. Hence, no heat. The two guys running the sale had HAD it. They were cold, cranky and willing to deal. So I offered them half the asking price they'd marked for this fox. "SOLD!" barked the guy and wow -- I walked out of there with this great stuffed fox! To prevent it from being ripped apart by one of my terrorist cats, I parked it on top of the TV in the living room.

Last Sunday I decided to paint it in a still life with screaming cerulean blues and fiery orange. That orange "thing" in the foreground is a light, crinkly blouse. The zebra/leopard material that's swirling about is actually a 2-piece dress I'd bought on eBay! The blue sandals were a resale find -- and in my size (a double thrill!). That's yet another Peruvian reproduction of a water bottle, this time in a puma shape. He really reflected the orange foreground.
The backdrop for this is a 3-way mirror that I draped a leopard-print jacket over. It made all kinds of interesting reflections with the alstromeria.

Every day I'd rush home from work (at Ford Wixom) and paint for 2 - 3 hours. It's kind of amazing how much a person can accomplish, just working in steady little chunks. I finished this painting in less than a week, working this way. Oh, and by using big brushes as much as possible!