Blueberry Symphony

Original Sold

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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 start out green, become yellow and then red on their way to blue.

The following November I shared the image with a collector from Oregon who had just come into my art world by claiming “Beneath an Olive Tree” at a recent festival. He asked me to paint these berries for his wife for Christmas. I had to hop-to, to get it painted, framed and shipped to Oregon in time!

As I was working on it, I appreciated connecting it with them. It’s a rare treat to paint from an image I had experienced and taken, while already knowing who will be giving it a home.

As I was finishing up, a friend’s teenage son played – so beautifully – Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata on the piano over the phone to me. I was blown away.

“Blueberry Symphony” fell out of the notes and brush strokes.

December 2009 – 22″x22″ – Watercolor on paper