A Touching Conversation

A Touching Conversation

between a Forelle pear pair (Pyrus communis 'Forelle') on snow by my home in Shapleigh, Maine, painted January 2, 2026, 12" x 9" (w x h), using Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, all selected for light fastness and permanence on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$400

Four Fore-Elles A-pear-ently...

Four Fore-Elles
A-pear-ently
on a Snowy Hillside

on the plowed snow by my driveway in Shapleigh, Maine, painted December 28, 2025, 12" x 9" (w x h), using Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, all selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper.

$400

Art Essay of Forelle Pears...

 Art Essay of Forelle Pears 

by Eight Artists

1
Forelle Pears
Lily Groot (circa 1980s- ), American
Acrylic and colored pencil on canvas,
16" x 12" (w x h), 2025

Source: artist's website, edited
Lily Van Diepen Groot, an Indianapolis painter, muralist, and printmaker, holds a BFA from the Indianapolis University Herron School of Art and Design in Printmaking, and a MA from the University of the Arts in Museum Studies. Her paintings are meditations on color inspired by seed catalogs, cut flowers, and the gardens of the Midwest. She helps organize the annual local group art show Wet Wet Mud in Indianapolis, IN. The artist's web site is HERE.

2
Still life, Pear and Green Apples /
Nature morte, poires et pommes vertes
Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), French
Oil on canvas, 13" x 9" (w x h), circa 1873
Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris, France

Source: Original, Musee de l'Orangerie and Wiki, edited
Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), painted this in the late 187os, a preview to his still lifes of the 188os. The still lifes that Cezanne painted from the late 1880s are another focus of his work. He refrained from rendering the motifs in linear perspective and instead depicted them in the dimensions that made sense to him in terms of composition; a pear, for example, can be oversized in order to achieve inner balance and an exciting composition. He often painted the Forelle pear, common to France then, less so today.

Some doubt arose as to the authenticity of this work as a Cezanne in 1996 prompted by the lack of brightness in the colors and a certain softness in the brushwork. Rejected by the art historian John Rewald in his catalogue of Cezanne's works published in 1996, Rewald contended that it could be by Paul Gachet (1873-1962), son of the famous Doctor Gachet, a friend of Cezanne. Doctor Gachet's son, Paul Gachet, a pupil of Cezanne, learned to paint by copying the paintings in his father's collection. Claiming to be an artist-painter, he signed his paintings, Paul Van Ryssel. This canvas apparently remained at Paul Gachet's home until it was bought by Domenica Walter in 1951 through an intermediary in exchange for two paintings by Chaim Soutine.

3
Still life with Forelle Pears
Carolina Elizabeth (1994- ), American
Oil on linen panel, 6" x 4" (w x h), 2019
Private collection

Source: Artist's website, edited
Carolina Elizabeth has a BFA from the University of Central Oklahoma in 2006. "In college, I told a professor that I just wanted to make pretty things. He said 'that is the worst way to describe an artwork.' However, I believe pretty things have power." She began painting seriously in 2018. She works from her home studio in Edmond, Oklahoma, where she teaches art and paints pretty things. The artist's website is HERE.

4
Forelle Trio
Jeanne Rosier Smith (1966- ), American
Pastel on Paper, 6" x 4" (w x h), 2009

Source: Artist's website edited
Jeanne Rosier Smith holds a Ph.D. in English then went on to a full-time pastel art career in 2001 at 35-years-old. She's also been teaching for twenty years. Jeanne is a signature member of the American Society of Marine Artists and the American Impressionist Society. She's served as an educational consultant to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA and has also given pastel demonstrations and gallery talks at the Museum. She's represented by Black River Gallery in Boothbay Harbor Maine, Powers Gallery in Acton, MA, Susan Powell Fine Art in Madison CT, Lily Pad Gallery in Westerly, RI, and Dare Gallery in Charleston, SC, and Anderson Fine Art in St Simons Island GA. The artist's website is HERE.

5
Still Life with Pear and Insects /
Stillleben mit Birne und Insekten
Justus Juncker (1703-1767), German
Oil on oak panel, 8" x 10" (w x h), 1765
Stadel Museum, Frankfurt, Germany

Source: Museum, edited
Justus Juncker (1703-1767), a German painter, was a teacher to his son Isaak Juncker and step-son Johann Daniel Bager, who both became painters in their own right. From the 1740s Juncker specialized in still life painting. In this 1765 painting he used a Forelle pear in its native Germany soon after this species was discovered and developed. Contemporaries of the Frankfurt painter recognized immediately that they were witnessing a break with "the art of the appropriate". What should really be seen on a pedestal of this kind was a "heroic" subject and not an "ordinary fruit". But the representation made clear the change in the significance of a still life during the eighteenth century. The focus was on the beauty of the object and not only its symbolic content.

6
Ripe with Color
Christiane David, American, Belgian born and raised
Watercolor on paper
Private Collection

Source: Artist's website, edited
After studying architecture in Brussels, Christiane David was a designer, while continuing her studies in oil and watercolor at the Academy of Art in Brussels. While in Europe, she painted, exhibited and sold her art. In 1985 she and her husband and young daughter moved to the us, Lancaster, PA. In 1996 Christiane became a member of the Berks County Art Alliance, West Lawn, PA. She is currently an associate member of the Oil Painters of America, the American Impressionist Society, and the Art Students League of New York. As an Abstract impressionist of more than 2,000 paintings her prices range from $250 to $12,000. Her artist's website is HERE.

7

Pears / Poires
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), French
Oil on canvas, 12" x 9" (w x h), circa 1890.
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, PA

Source: Original
In his early life Pierre-Auguste Renoir was appreciated more for his singing than for his drawing. He took music lessons until his family encountered financial difficulties, which forced him to leave school and begin work as a painter in a porcelain factory. Later, as an impressionist, his style was to paint smooth brushstrokes, hence his Pears, likely the popular and painterly Forelle pears in France then, have none of their lenticels dots due to his style. Pears traditionally symbolize fertility and bear a resemblance to the classical female form, which is perhaps one reason why Renoir painted both. In this painting the white cloth brings out the pear color, much like painting pears on snow, a Snow Life.

8
Reflections On Pears
Charlie O'Shields (1971- ), American
Watercolor and ink on paper, 8" x 6" (w x h)

Source: Artist's Blog edited
Charlie O'Shields (1971- ), born in Kansas City Missouri, painted this pear painting in 45 minutes using his A5 Hahnemuhle Watercolour Book. Charlie's goal is to inspire as many people as around the globe to do something creative daily and share their own wonderful stories. "I'm not remotely famous, just a guy with an art journal blog called Doodlewash, who adores watercolor... I've never figured out what constitutes right and wrong in art... I just keep taking a little moment each and every day to make something new... Make what you love, and love what you make. Whether you're taking weeks to make a masterpiece or stealing a few minutes out of your day for reflections on pears." His Doodlewash blog is HERE. His book Sketching Stuff is on amazon HERE.

Oranges Why Blue Sky High

Oranges Why Blue Sky High

Two oranges on a snow drift nearby my home on Fort Ridge, Shapleigh, Maine painted January 1, 2026, 12" x 9" (w x h), using Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, all selected for light fastness and permanence, wax resist, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$400

Painterly Orange and White Art Essay

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A Painterly 
Orange and White 
Visual Art Essay

1

Oranges on a Blue and White Cloth
Christina Bingle (1959- ) English
Oil on canvas, 25" x 21" (w x h), 1998
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust,
Cheltenham and Gloucestershire, UK

Source: Artist's website, edited
Christina Bingle (1959- ) paints still lifes, landscapes and occasional portraits. "Still life happens in my studio in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. Landscapes are painted out in the field. I'm intrigued by light and color, and the beautiful complexities of oil paint. " Chris is a member of the Cheltenham Group of Artists. She exhibits in group and solo shows locally and around the country. She has work in private and public collections across the UK. She has a BA (Honors) Fine Art, Preston Polytechnic, 1982, and an Adult Education Teaching Certificate Stage 2, Stroud College, 2000. The artist's website is HERE.

2

A Sailboat, Chioggia, Italy
Oil on board, 16" x 12" (w x h),
Jane Peterson (1876-1965), American
Doyle, New York, NY, 2018 auction sold $9,375 USD

Source: auction page, edited
Against the conventions of her time, fiercely independent and committed artist Jane Peterson traveled the world solo, painting street scenes, urban and natural vistas, and bold, avant-garde compositions of flowers. Her critically acclaimed works combine an academic attention to naturalistic detail with thoroughly modern, striking color combinations and loose, expressive brush strokes. Peterson rubbed shoulders with and drew influence from the artistic luminaries of the 20th century, attending Gertrude Stein's famous salons while living in Paris and taking trips with Louis Comfort Tiffany, Maurice Prendergast, and Childe Hassam. Collected by major museums including the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

3

A Bucket of Salt Water
Joseph Edward Southall (1861-1944), British
Tempera on linen, 9" x 16" (w x h), 1912
Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK

Source: Art History Research edited
Joseph Edward Southall [also known as Joseph E. Southall; and as Joseph Southall] was born in Nottingham, England on 23 1861 and in 1862, following the death of his father, moved to Edgbaston, Birmingham. While still at school in York, he received lessons in watercolor painting from Edwin Moore (1813-1893). Between 1878 and 1882 he was articled to the Birmingham architectural firm Martin & Chamberlain, during which time he studied in the evenings at Birmingham School of Art where he absorbed the ideas of the Arts and Crafts movement, then prevalent at the School. He also won several prizes. At the end his four years with Martin & Chamberlain, he decided not to become an architect but instead to pursue a career as an artist. In about 1882, Southall returned to Edgbaston and settled at 13 Charlotte Road where he lived for the rest of his life.

4
Mie
Alex Katz (1927- ), American
Oil on board, 9" x 16" (w x h), 2009
Sotheby's 2020 auction sold 32,500 GBP / $43,800 USD

Source: Wiki, edited
Since 1951, Alex Katz's work has been the subject of more than 200 solo exhibitions and nearly 500 group exhibitions throughout the United States and internationally. He is well known for his large paintings, whose bold simplicity and heightened colors are considered as precursors to Pop Art. Alex Katz's Blue Umbrella I (1972) a portrait of his wife, Ada, under an umbrella sold for $4,150,000 at Phillips in London in 2019.

5

Joseph Rosenstock at Lewisohn Stadium
Frederick John England (1939- ), English
Oil on panel, 9" x 28" (w x h), 1966
The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery,
Staffordshire, England, UK

Source: Trent Art, Staffordshire, edited
Frederick J. England (1939- ), more widely known as Eric, is a prolific painter. He studied at Brighton College of Art, Brighton, England in 1956, in Norway in 1960, and in London in 1961. He went on to lecture in painting and art history at Leek School of Art in North Staffordshire, and became the President of the Society of Staffordshire Artists and a member of the Free Painters and Sculptors. He's exhibited widely in the UK and abroad, and has works in various permanent collections. His art was shown at the Royal Institute, The Royal Society of British Artists, and widely in the provinces. At the Paris Salon he won a Gold Medal in 1975, and other Silver Medals. His work is in the collections at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent. He has also been a Patron of The Civil and Public Service Artists Group. He works from his gallery in Leek, Staffordshire, England.

6
Fruit and Napkin
Ben Mathews (1889-1975), British
Oil on board, 18" x 12" (w x h), 1960
West Northamptonshire Council,
West Northamptonshire, UK

Source: Northampton Museum and Art Gallery edited
Ben Mathews, born in Duston, Northampton in 1889 trained and qualified as an architect before becoming an artist. He went to Paris in 1923 and studied painting at the Academie Modern under Ferdinand Leger and Othon Frietz. He lived and painted mostly in France between the two World Wars. After 1947, he spent a long time in Spain, where his work featured mainly Mediterranean subjects. Mathews an honorary secretary of Royal Institute of Painters. He held a one-man show in Northampton in 1972 and his last major exhibition was held at Mall Galleries, London, in 1973.

7

Orange Trees and Gate
Winslow Homer (1836-1910), American
Watercolor on paper, 21" x 14" (w x h), 1885
Sotheby's 2011 auction sold $1,314,500 USD

Source: Sotheby's notes, edited
In December 1884 Winslow Homer left the chill of his coastal home in Prouts Neck, Scarborough, Maine, and, together with his recently widowed father, sailed from New York to Nassau. Homer and his father stayed at the elegant Royal Victoria Hotel, the center of Nassau society. While the bright orange fruit was a familiar delicacy for urban Americans, the tree itself was an exotic presence. Homer's rendering of the lush green leaves of the tree, heavily laden with ripe fruit, standing outside a typical Bahamian residence neatly summarizes the tropical paradise that Nassau evoked in the minds of an American audience.

While some artists used the medium of watercolor as a handy portable summer tool, this was not the case for Homer. While Homer characteristically addressed the same themes in watercolor and oil, his watercolors were intended to stand on their own as full-fledged works of art. Homer understood that he could reach a wider audience of patrons and purchasers with his watercolors than with more expensive studio oils. Homer's first trip to the tropics resulted in thirty-six watercolors which he showed in New York and Boston. At least two, Orange Trees and Gate along with The Conch Divers (Collection of the Minneapolis Institute of the Fine Arts) were acquired by Russell Sturgis (1836-1909). Sturgis' interest in watercolor began in the early 1860s. Sturgis' approval was significant. He was a prominent architect and art critic, who advised the reading public on how to judge art and what to purchase. He also was a founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He'd supported Homer since 1870 when he arranged for a Pennsylvania iron and steel magnate, to buy a Homer oil painting.

On a personal note: I've been familiar with another watercolor from his Nassau trip, though I had no idea who the artist was or where it was. My father had a Homer Winslow print of Sloop, Nassau (Metropolitan Museum of Art) hanging on out living room wall, a memory instilled in me as a high-schooler. See it HERE.

8
Wrapped Oranges
William J. McCloskey (1859-1941), American
Oil on canvas, 24" x 11", circa 1890
Christie's January 22, 2026 auction
estimate, $250,000 - $350,000 USD

Source: Christie's notes edited
A student of Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, McCloskey would have attended classes where the American master gave such advice as, "Paint an orange. After you have it done, introduce a white thing...Take an egg or an orange, a piece of black cloth, and a piece of white paper and try to get the light and color." McCloskey explored the subject of oranges wrapped in white paper to great success throughout his career. In the 1880s, he shared a studio with his wife, Alberta Binford, who was an artists in her own right. Each painter specialized in still lifes, with a special interest in oranges and their blossoms; it has even been suggested that the two may have collaborated on occasion.

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