Tangerine Still Life

Tangerine – 6" x 6" – Oil on Canvas Panel


Funny thing about painting still lifes is that sometimes what you set out to paint is not what you end up with. I had cut up two lemons in different ways, had started a painting when I realized it just was not working out. It just was not capturing my interest, so I scraped the painting down to use the canvas panel another day. We had a bowl of tangerines nearby and I decided for a break to eat one. The tangerine ended up replacing the lemon slices and I did not get a chance to eat it until about 4 hours later.

The paint on the canvas panels are getting very juicy and creamy lately as I am trying to use up the several tubes of titanium white I have before I go out and buy some more cremnitz white. The creamy consistency is because titanium white does not setup and stiffen like cremnitz white does. I find that cremnitz can be whipped up into a thick consistency of butter cream, where titanium white is more like meringue. I have to paint with an even lighter touch than usual, which is both fun and a challenge. I used bristle brushes mainly on this painting in order to build texture and emphasize the white pith that stayed on the tangerine slices. This detail shot shows how creamy and thick the paint was.