The inspiration behind the Citrus Collection
This collection has been a little different than my usual abstract pieces…
I’ve always been drawn to lemons and oranges in artwork - they’re scattered all over my house in various ways! I even have 2 lemon trees - a potted one and a planted (struggling) one. Something about the simple joys of summertime are especially sweet - running barefoot in the grass as a child, and drinking ice cold lemonade - and the combination of the yellows in the lemon fruit and various greens of the leaves have always reminded me of those feelings. But it wasn’t until this summer that I was inspired to paint them.
I won’t lie, at first I hesitated, since freedom is an important part of my painting practice. Painting realistic portrayals of citrus fruit did not seem to fit that at all and honestly sounded a bit stifling, when I really thought of it. But - I persisted beyond the initial doubt, and began to sketch some out on my current favorite paper I own, the deckled edge handmade cotton paper. And something pretty cool happened just from those initial sketches!
I used to draw (instead of paint) all the time when I was a kid. But over the years I switched to exploring the world of painting - and loved the textures of different paints, the way paint can blend in so many different ways, the emotions that different color combinations can evoke, etc. But sketching these lemons, over and over - wow! It brought me back to drawing as a kid, and I immediately fell into a “flow” while sketching them. The collection then just kind of came together. Putting color down on them days later, I initially struggled with wanting to just go full abstract now that I had my paints out again (and I did, occasionally - on other pieces of canvas around me!). But adding the pops of yellow (and orange, as the collection progressed) were just as happy, and were direct reminders to me of these simple joys of summertime.
While at this point I don’t like to keep strict plans on what my future creative practice holds (I am still developing my style and having so much fun exploring that), I think it is so cool how this collection worked out. It has inspired me to think of exploring more sketching/drawing for future collections, alongside my abstract paintings. We will see what actually turns up. But for now, I’m very proud of the collection that has formed.
Lemons signify the beginning of summertime to me. A cold glass of iced lemonade in the heat of the summertime - this is one of my simple joys in life. The olive branches also snuck into the collection and I’m so glad they did - the two toned leaves were so fun to paint. These simple summer joys were the primary inspiration for the Citrus collection, and I hope these paintings provide you with a reminder of the same!
