Tomato Girl Painting - Work in Progress


I was going through some paintings I began last year and set aside and found a tomato girl painting I'd begun. It was on canvas. I don't usually paint on canvas - I usually paint on masonite panels or cradled wood panels. Seeing the painting made me think about a conversation I had with my younger sister on the phone about last year's Tomato People paintings.

"So.....why Tomato People?" she asks. I think she's thinking, Should I be concerned?

"Why not?" says I.

"Well....er.....they are a little bit strange, Dix."

"Well, actually, I wanted to paint something inspired by an Ammi Phillips painting that wasn't a direct copy. So I decided to flip the colors around and put the red on top and the lighter colors on the bottom. I wanted to refer to folk art paintings but in a whimsical way."

"Ohhhhh. "

I essentially ended up repainting this whole painting. She started off red, then I painted her green, then I went back to red again. And then before I knew it she had a mask on - where'd that come from? Is she getting ready for the Masqued Ball? I wonder if I'll get a call from my sister?

As you can see, I have a very fancy palette. I use a masonite panel and wrap it with tin foil. Then when I want a clean palette I can just take it off and then recover.



Sometimes I play around with the paint program
and see what might happen if I changed something.
For instance, I can try out a black mask
and it totally changes the feeling of the painting.

6 comments:

Jamie Lott said...

I was blog hopping and came across tomato girl. Love her!! And the tin foil palate...ingenious! ;)

~Jamie

Jo James said...

Lovely, Dixie!
I still fondly remember that tomato head dolly you did forever ago.
I don't think tomato heads are odd at all. (And they're especially good with bacon and lettuce.)

Anonymous said...

Dixie,
My heart skipped a few beats!! I LOVE your tomato heads!! Make more please!!! I treasure mine!

Hugs,
Tink

craftswithcare said...

Dixie, I love her! She is one of the sweetest tomato heads I have ever seen. I love her mask too! That is a great touch!
You are very talented!

Hugs,
Mithua

AAnneMohr said...

this is ridiculous. it looks like my daughter painted this in thrid grade art class after watching veggie tales or attack of the killer tomatoes. Does the painted work for the heinz company? Is it ketchup, catchup or catsup?

Dixie Redmond said...
This comment has been removed by the author.

"Do not let what you cannot do
keep you from doing what you can do."

John Wooden