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Fresh Picked Lemon Drops - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Fresh Picked Lemon Drops

 We've had this tree for a for years now and it's never really produced any fruit. The few little lemons it did create never ripened and were always very small. Last spring, I pruned the tree down a bit and made sure to fertilize it well over the summer. I also moved it to a spot that got more sun. Well, all my work seems to have paid off now as the tree is finally producing fruit! It still takes them a long time to ripen; in fact, I picked these today after the tree spent the winter inside keeping warm with these already growing on the branch. I'm hopeful I'll continue to get fruit from this tree since I really enjoy being able to include the leaves and branches in my paintings. 

Fresh Picked Lemon Drops

 
Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 5 inches x 7 inches on canvas panel. 
Medium: Original Oil Painting
Frame: none
Availability: Click here to bid.
Initialed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Potted Flowers - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Potted Flowers

 These are more of the flowers my wife and I bought yesterday. This time they are pansies, which I found a lot harder to do then the violas from yesterday. After spending the morning working on a vertical composition that I just couldn't get to work, I finally just wiped it off, cleaned the canvas of as much paint as I could and took a break for lunch. After lunch, I went  back into the studio and decided to try it again, only this time, I went with a horizontal composition. I think this worked out a bit better.

 It's a real challenge to try to capture the color saturation these flowers have. When I mix the colors on my pallet, they look correct until I apply it to the canvas. Then they either seem too dark or not intense enough. I'm sure that's because the colors around it are either too satuarated or too light, so it's a constant adjustment. And around and around it goes. I recently read a great quote (actually it was a paraphrase) from Kevin Macpherson that went something like, "Painting is a series of correcting mistakes. Once there are no more mistakes to correct, you are done." That really sums up what it was like in the studio today.

Potted Flowers

 
Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 5 inches x 7 inches on canvas panel. 
Medium: Original Oil Painting
Frame: none
Availability: Click here to go to eBay auction.
Initialed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Violas - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Violas

  I have to admit I didn't really have any idea what I was going to paint today. Normally, I have a few ideas floating around my mind of things I want to try or locations I want to go paint at, but today I was drawing a blank (no pun intended). As I was rummaging though the house for ideas, my wife suggested we take a walk to the nursery up the street to see what flowers they have. What a great idea! I have wanted to get a few planters of flowers going for awhile.  So now that the weather is warming up, today was a perfect sunny, 72 degree day to do this. We returned home with a couple of different flowers and a bunch of onion sets. After spending the morning getting every thing planted, I took one of the violas we purchased inside to the studio and did this little painting of them. I just loved the flowers growing in this container, which have complimentary blooms that make each of the flower just pop with color. With any luck, I can keep these and the other flowers we bought alive long enough to paint some more. 

Violas

 
Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 3 inches x 5 inches on canvas panel. 
Medium: Original Oil Painting
Frame: none
Availability: Click here to go to eBay auction.
Initialed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Pining For Summer - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Pining For Summer

 It's been a little over a week since I've been able to paint and it felt really good to be back in the studio today. After looking around the kitchen at the available veggies and fruit we had on hand, I decided to go with these tomatoes. I was originally drawn to the fact they where all still on the vine. I had this idea of doing something where the vine was hanging over the edge of something with long shadows casting down from them. The problem was as soon as I started to set this up, one of them fell right off the vine and I was afraid the rest of them would do the same, so I leaned them up against the back of my still life box instead. About half way through the painting I realized I had painted something very close to this once before. One of my very first daily paintings, The Last Tomato, seems to be a close cousin to this one.  Coincidentally, it was almost a year ago that I did this. I'm just off by about 2 weeks.

Pining for Summer

 
Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 7 inches x 5 inches on canvas panel. 
Medium: Original Oil Painting
Frame: none
Availability: Click here to go to eBay auction.
Initialed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Fruit Melody - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Fruit Melody

 Over the holidays I had a commission where the client asked me to include sheet music in the painting somehow. I had so much fun painting the sheet music that I've been itching to use it again. Well, today was the day. I really wanted something in the background and the sheet music filled that bill. I enjoy painting the sheet music because there's a certain abstract quality to it. Between the shadows from the holly branch and the dark printing of the notes, there are lots of opportunities for painting interesting shapes.

 After my wife had finished looking at this painting, she asked "Do you have a name for it yet?". Jokingly I said "Fruit melody".  Over dinner, the name kind of grew on me so I went with it.

Fruit Melody

 
Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 8 inches x 16 inches on canvas panel. 
Medium: Original Oil Painting
Frame: none
Availability: Click here to go to eBay auction.
Initialed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Salsa Bowl - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Salsa Bowl

 Once again I need to thank my wife for another title idea. When I first showed her the painting, she said "It looks like you are growing a salsa tree". With an odd look on my face she went on to explain that it looks like the onion could be growing off the tomato vine, and, if that was the case, then surely they must grow on a salsa tree. I didn't really like the tree bit since it needs so much explanation, so I just changed it to Salsa Bowl. This painting has a few of my newest thrift store finds. Both of the tins on the left hand side are from my latest scouting trip. I really get excited about getting into the studio when I have new "models" waiting for me.

Salsa Bowl

 
Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 5 inches x 7 inches on canvas panel. 
Medium: Original Oil Painting
Frame: none
Availability: SOLD
Initialed on front. Signed and dated on back.

The One That Got Away - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

The One That Got Away

 I've painted a lot of Valentine's Day pictures for the last week or so and really needed a break from painting hearts today.  I've been looking for some new items to use in my still life paintings and had planned on going to a few thrift stores today, but we had an ice storm last night that pretty much shut everything down, so that was a no-go. Luckily, we have a lot of fruit around the house, so I picked out some nice looking grapes and set up this simple setting. Hopefully, the roads will be thawed out a bit tomorrow and I can hit the thrift stores for some new supplies.

The One That Got Away

 
Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 5 inches x 3 inches on canvas panel. 
Medium: Original Oil Painting
Frame: none
Availability: SOLD
Initialed on front. Signed and dated on back.