A Taste of Art

Here is another of my abstract acrylics created in response to a prompt in a recent issue of Artist magazine. On a side note, I love this magazine. If you don’t already subscribe, I highly recommend it.

The prompt was to choose a flavor or fragrance to capture on the canvas. I didn’t have to look too far for this one. Since my studio is in my kitchen, I had only to turn my head toward the fruit bowl on the table. I’d recently been to the farmer’s market, and we had a few juicy peaches left. What a delicious treat for a starving artist. Okay, so I’m not really starving. It just seemed like a good joke to make.

So, here’s the flavor of a fresh peach — as seen through my abstract expressionist art:

I started with a canvas I’d previously toned with an orange hue, then used a darker orange to create a peachy shape. I used an ivy green acrylic to represent the leaves of a peach tree. My grandfather had lots of peach trees in our backyard (for those who don’t know, I lived with my grandfather) so I had to get those leaves in the picture.

At first I played around with the orange and the green, but I wanted something more, something flavorful. The first thought that comes to mind when I think of the flavor of a peach is sweet, and I thought at once of a sugary, sweet pink. So I added that hue as well, and I came up with something akin to an exploding fruit with its juicy goodness going everywhere.

I didn’t really care much for the painting when I first finished it. Now, though, it’s been sitting in my studio for a few weeks, and it’s begun to grow on me. The only thing I can’t decide is the proper orientation.

Should the peach be there in the lower left? Or at the top? Or maybe the painting should be horizontal with the peach on the left? Or the right?

I suppose that’s another good thing about abstract art. It’s versatile. Truly we can look at abstract expressionist art from many points of view!