An Apple a Day 9/1 - 9/30

At the start of every semester, on the first day of class, whether it be painting or drawing, after I give the scary talk about class not being “an easy A” and that it will likely be the hardest class they take all semester, i throw in the following statement:

If you can't convincingly draw or paint an apple, don't try to impress me with big ideas.

If you can't convincingly draw or paint an apple, don't try to impress me with big ideas.

It is meant to shock them into taking the journey of the class seriously. They are there to learn and absorb. To broaden their capacity for observation and empathy. As an ex once said, “if you don’t have good technique, then all you’re left with are ideas. And what good is an idea if you can’t communicate it?”

True. Story.

Now, I haven’t painted an apple in a long time. Sure, I’ve painted 100s of demos of apples, but I haven’t seriously considered them a subject. I paint people. Sometimes naked; oftentimes clothed. That’s my jam.

I thought of doing faces, but that’s my crutch. So I want to challenge myself with something humble like the apple.

Each day I will paint an apple, preferably and hopefully from life if my schedule allows, on an 8x8 canvas or cradled panel. I’ll be recording the process to make reels on Instagram.

I’ll be asking my followers there to help me name each one since I’m not overly fond of naming paintings.

Each Monday, the previous batch will go up for sale here on the website for 24 hours at a low price ($375) only for my email list. On Tuesday the price will go up to the regular amount for that size ($500) and be open to everyone.

This is an experiment. I’ll see how it goes. I’m excited about the discipline, but also scared of maintaining momentum with everything I have going on.

But that’s life :)