Apricots in the Sun

Original Sold

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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 apricots I used to make the fruit tart in the painting Fruit Tart.  Connections are everywhere.

I began this painting while I was underway painting Southside Lily Pond. I needed a break from the dark and muted colors I was using to paint the murky pond water.  I craved painting with bright, vivid color.

I started in with the background on the lower right using even more intense and bright color than my eyes saw in the reference image. With the scale of the fruit in this painting these fruits may be hard to recognize as apricots. In fact the fruit I’ve painted here is often mistaken for peaches – which doesn’t matter, really. Some years this tree produces the most amazing crop – buckets and buckets full of juicy, squishy, jammy apricots – the generosity of nature.  It also reveals Gary’s faithful care of the fruit trees in their garden.

July 2008 – 30″x22″ – Watercolor on paper