Pear original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

6" square acrylic and mixed media on canvas. SOLD

I'm not sure about that painting in the top picture right. I think I'm going to work on the background some more.

Birthday Cupcake painting

8" by 8" acrylic on canvas.

Here's a little memento from my daughter's birthday. My baby isn't a baby anymore.

Lazy Day Pumpkin original painting by Polly Jones

8" square acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas. In my SOLD

I was too tired and lazy to do collage with this one today so just enjoyed painting with paint.

Center Stage Spoon original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

8" acrylic and mixed media collage painting on gallery wrapped canvas. SOLD

Spoon patterns conjure up a lot of memories. This one is from my mother.

Peach Study original mixed media by Polly Jones

6" acrylic mixed media on canvas. Here's the last peach for a while. SOLD

Winged Garlic original mixed media still life painting by Polly Jones

5" square acrylic and mixed media on cradled wood panel. SOLD.

A little smaller than usual.

Pepper With Uneven Cut original mixed media still life painting by Polly Jones

8" acrylic and paper on gallery wrapped canvas. On Etsy here.

One reason I combine layers of collage with painting is how it's a way to hint at how complicated and full of memory that "looking" can be. For instance, many years ago when we lived in Knoxville, I had a gig as a demonstrating artist at a KMA event. I was doing a large painting of a bell pepper and an older man came up and stood there a while just watching. He finally said, "I'm so glad someone else feels that way about bell peppers!" It was kind of funny because he seemed to be embarrassed that he was moved by the beauty of a vegetable. Now when I am cutting up peppers and looking at them, I always feel a kinship with that man. So that's one thing I think about when painting peppers. Another is how I plan to use it in a recipe later if it doesn't shrivel too much. Another influence is Edward Weston's famous black and white photographs of peppers changing the way we see them. We bring a lot to our looking and that can make it messy in a lovely way.

More Peaches original mixed media still life painting by Polly Jones

8" acrylic mixed media painting on gallery wrapped canvas. SOLD

I did a painting almost the same as this one a while back and then had a lovely request for a similar one. I don't mind doing this because it's such a learning experience. It forces me to analyze what I had done more spontaneously before and I bring a different kind of thinking to it. Luckily peaches are still in season so I was able to set it all up again.

Red Sugar Bowl original painting

6" square acrylic on canvas.

I've been wrestling with about three large, unruly mixed media pieces lately. It was a relief to do this small one. My intention was to not overwork it. I've been admiring Linda Hunt's work lately because of her fantastic, luscious brushwork, never overworked. You can catch her paintings here.