Out in the narrow side yard of our Fairfax house is an epic Meyer lemon tree. Planted by a previous resident of our house, this tree is indefatigable. There was hardly a time in the 23 years we lived there that we could not go pick a ripe lemon. I worried about it when either Joe pruned it severely or hard frosts burned its upper branches, only to watch it come back, more prolific than ever.
We came and went by this tree when we were on foot. It was lovely to walk by when the tree was full of blossoms. Love that clean citrus flower scent.
I took the photo that became this painting when I noticed that there were blossoms and ripe yellow lemons right next to each other on the same branch. Add in beautiful light and interesting leaf shapes and this had to become a painting.
When I started to draw it, I noticed there are also tiny baby lemons.
The name was inspired by the last line in Mary Oliver’s poem Wild Geese: “…announcing your place in the family of things.”
August 2012 – 22″x22″ – Watercolor on paper
More from the Fruit Gallery
Roma
There’s much more in this one than meets the eye. There's a family trip that included a few days in Rome, when my husband, Joe, our nibling HLeigh, and I set out wandering on foot. We made our way across central Rome to the Campo dei Fiori – a daily market for fruits,...
September
Wait... there are still plums on the tree... and it's September! Returning home from a hike up the hill with the dog in our neighborhood in Fairfax, I was taken aback by the sight. Normally the plums are gone by at latest mid-August. The leaves were starting to turn...
One
Years ago, I read on a poster filled with ideas for living well: Pick a piece of fruit from a tree and eat it. How strange that we need reminding—so many of us are disconnected from the source of our food. I was fortunate to be raised on two properties in Woodacre,...
Always
In October 2014, I lead my first art retreat in Healdsburg, California. I saw a fuyu persimmon tree that was loaded with fruit. It had rained lightly the night before, and everything was sprinkled with droplets. The background of my favorite image—just the grey of...
Persimmon Sun II
Sometimes things get painted because they're to come next. I had drawn this months earlier when I was in the mood to do another persimmon - another from our Fairfax neighbor's tree. This image came from the same visit as Persimmon Sun. I had just finished Dazzling,...
Blueberry Symphony
These blueberries found me on a farm in Nevada City, California, while on a weekend with friends. The bright summer sun accentuated all the colors the berries pass through on the way to our cereal bowls and pie plates. Just like the Zinfandel grapes I’ve painted, they...
August Bounty
My husband, Joe came up with this idea. Fruit fresh from the farmer's market was sitting on the kitchen counter - ripe figs and rich, red grapes - next to some Bartlett pears from my parents' tree. He said matter of factly, "you should put that fruit in that plate and...
Persimmon Sun
A visit back to my neighbor Jen's persimmon tree the fall of 2008 was a bright sunny day. I arrived none to soon. The birds had started to help themselves to the ripe persimmons - many of them were half-eaten. Persimmon Rain had been such a special piece, a favorite...
Queen Anne Cherries
Stone fruit are a favorite - to eat and to paint. I'd already painted peaches and apricots. Now for some cherries on the tree to paint. My friend Brenda called to tell me that people were flocking to the self-pick orchards in Brentwood, near where she lived. They...
Apricots in the Sun
These apricots grew on a tree in my sister-in-law, Anne and her husband Gary's backyard in San Anselmo, California - the same garden where grows the tree that grew the peaches that became my painting Tropical Peaches. And - this is the same tree that grew the...
Tropical Peaches
One summer early in my painting life, as fruit started ripening on trees in the gardens of loved ones, I couldn't wait to get out with my camera - I had a hankering to paint stone fruit. When I got a call from my sister-in-law Annie, telling me their peaches were...
Pomegranates, Jacinta’s Garden
In October 1996, at the end of my half a year in France, I traveled throughout Europe for two weeks with two of my brothers, Matt and Mike. We met my parents on the Croatian Island of Brac, where my grandparents were born. Brac is a rocky, arid island dotted with...
Persimmon Rain
On the street leading up to our Fairfax house a persimmon tree hangs over a neighbor's fence. At the time I painted this, my husband, Joe and I had been living in this neighborhood for several years. Every fall, as I went by it, I thought I want to paint those...