Why I Paint Fruit

"People at the Fort McMurray art market call me the fruit lady. I've made peace with it."

Why I Paint Fruit

People at the Fort McMurray art market call me the fruit lady. I smile every time I say that.

I didn't set out to be the fruit lady. It happened gradually, an orange here, some grapes there, a bowl of cherries that turned into a series. At some point the pattern became undeniable and now it's just part of who I am as a painter. The fruit lady. I actually quite enjoy it. It extends a sense of acceptance for who I am, whether intentional or not. That kind of freedom as an artist, to be yourself completely, is priceless.

The honest answer to why fruit keeps appearing in my work is that it's one of the most technically interesting subjects to paint. The way light moves across a curved surface, the way the skin holds onto colour differently depending on the variety, the way a cluster of grapes builds depth through repetition. These are genuinely challenging problems and I learn something every time I paint one.

But the more honest answer is that fruit shows up for some reason when I need to come back to myself. Perhaps because it is so ubiquitous, so familiar to us.

Citrus Liturgy started on a morning when I woke up with that particular kind of loneliness that sits in your chest before you've opened your eyes all the way. The specific kind that has no cause you can point to. I wanted to paint but didn't know what. I sat with it and peeled an orange. A rogue splash of juice hit me next to my eye. The orange told me what to paint.

There's something about the weight of fruit, the colour, the way it sits so completely in itself without apology, that I find grounding. An orange doesn't have an existential crisis. It's just an orange, doing its job, being luminous about it.

I think that's what I'm reaching for when I paint them. A reminder that presence is enough. That you don't have to be complicated to matter. That sometimes the most honest thing in the room is a piece of fruit catching the light.

The fruit lady. I'll take it.

Citrus Liturgy and several other fruit pieces are available in the shop.

Jackie