Who likes designer bones?

I took a page out of Giorgio Morandi's book and painted the bones.  I may not have the colours right.

In fact, the whole bone thing may not be working.  I wonder if the ancient Britons painted stone henge five thousand years ago?

My mangoes are now officially rotting.  They aren't going to wait for me to get the bone idea right.  The studio smells like a garbage can.

Quick, open the window.  Glad it's summer.

The more I see Gauguin....

The more I photograph these mangoes, the more I understand Gauguin and see his work in this fruit.

They could have instructed him on his unequalled use of red, orange and green in his painting.

Nobody was more mango than Gauguin.

Cezanne had the "couleur juste", Van Gogh the brilliance, but Gauguin could school them all on pure colour harmony.

Pears mangoes encore.....

The mangoes have proved to be excellent companions with all my old faithful nature morte participants: pears, oranges, the painted neo-morandi ceramics.  This is much to my delight.

Oddly, I find that after a lifetime of seeing in black and white, these days I'm seeing almost entirely in colour.  I think it started when I had a surprisingly strong emotional experience in front of the Rembrandt paintings in Amsterdam earlier this year.

I don't know what it means or if it makes a difference.  But I used to prefer black and white photography for my photos and now it is colour.  It surprises me greatly but I have to just go with it, I think.

Here is another in the ongoing colour series.

So as the bones dry, we have more mangoes

I set the bones aside for the moment and decided to shoot some still lives inspired by Cezanne; that is to say, on a tilted table top.

Cezanne made a habit of covering a table in a floral rug, jugs, bowls and fruit, and taking a high perspective.  It resulted in a kind of abstract design in which table edges sometimes misaligned and rules of perspective were distorted just north of Cubism.

It's amazing what a difference looking from eye level versus from above can make.

Mangoes part 5

I'm not sure if this one works.  I wanted to lighten the composition with the white of the small mugs.

Mangoes part 4

The bone adventure continues.  They have proved slight recalcitrant. The only way I could get these bones is au naturel (Custom butcher shop) and it's proving to be a visceral experience.  Let's put it this way:  I'm getting a lot of help from three hungry ravens in my back yard.  Georgia O'Keefe could just wander around and pick hers like berries.

In the meantime, I've seen two more mango images which I have realized.  One called blue mangoes,  is above for your delectation.

Mangoes part 3

 Here are two more in the mango series.  I have a few more to shoot today.

I have secured some bones for bones series.  I'm prepping the bones.  Hope it works.

Gauguin was the mango master

I remember when I first became interested in photography, I discovered books my father had purchased from Kodak.  I think I was about five years old. I marvelled at the clouds in those black and white skies.

The books have long disappeared, but I suspect in the 1950s, those skies were Ansel Adams.

Later, when I became interested in painting and drawing, I was much older.  But when I stumbled upon a small book of pictures by Gauguin, I was amazed at his colour.  His still life with mangoes made a huge impression.

So here are some photos of mangoes to bring my art obsession full circle.