“Once I started painting, it all seemed to come together. I was stunned and surprised at what I accomplished.”
—Irene Tatariw Trindle
“Pumpkin Pie with Candied Cranberries” gouache on paper, 5x5 inches, by Irene Tatariw Trindle
A guest blog-post by my mom, Irene Tatariw Trindle.
I love my artist daughter’s pie paintings.
I love them so much that I want to buy one.
My daughter does not know this but one day I drove one hour north to Easton to look at her pie paintings.
I got to view, in unhurried luxury, several of her pie paintings that were hung in a bakery on Northampton Street in Easton, PA called Pie + Tart. The paintings were hung in the front display facing the street. I could not decide which painting I liked best. I casually walked inside the bakery hoping to see if there were more paintings inside.
So I said: “I really like those pie paintings.”
The ladies exclaimed: “The artist is local!” And, then they started talking about how wonderful the artist was, etc. I wanted to say: “I know her. She’s my daughter.” So, I just said: “How much is that cherry pie, the pie missing a slice?” So, I bought the pie with the missing slice. The price was adjusted because of the missing slice. I did not buy a pie painting. I have not bought a pie painting...yet.
I look at Facebook occasionally . My artist daughter posted “Pie Painting Class! Sunday afternoon, learn the delights of gouache painting and feast on delicious pie from Pie + Tart.” I clicked and reserved a spot for myself.
“Apple Pie Slice” gouache on paper, 5x5 inches, by Laurie Latner
The class was on Sunday, October 13, 2019. It was Lauren’s first class in her studio. She planned on having four students. There was a waiting list but this time I was an Early Bird. Each of us was given a 5 page syllabus with an inspirational quotation from Charles Hawthorne:
“Beauty in art is the delicious notes of color one against the other.”
“Apple pie on a blue-patterned plate” gouache on paper, 5x5 inches, by Rachel Engh.
Lauren said she wanted us to think about three things: colors & shapes, continue painting well after the class ends, and to have fun. She showed us examples from her favorite books of how artists successfully used colors and shapes. She talked about Value, Composition, Color, and Shapes. She showed us Ken Kewley’s simplified pencil sketches. She said that getting the relationships of colors right is more important than the “real color” that you see. And, sometimes colors “sing” together. She said that we should look for color and shape combinations that make us happy. That’s one of the reasons that I like Lauren’s pie paintings; they make me happy.
Lauren did a quick demonstration of using gouache paints with a limited palette. Then, she said she wanted us to start with just a few colors such as red, yellow, and blue. They were paired as warm and cool colors. For example the red that had a little orange in it was the warm red and the red that had a little blue in it was the cool red. So we worked with warm and cool colors in red, yellow, and blue. We also got burnt umber, yellow ochre, and a dollop of white. I swiped a bit of a green that caught my eye. Paints were put in clean clear recycled plastic egg cartons. The lid of the egg carton was removed and we mixed colors on that.
Students painting in Lauren’s studio during her first pie-painting class.
Lauren gave us strips of paper. She wanted us to paint our own sample palette to refer to in the future. We were to have four dime sized colors on this paper strip from left to right: black, dark grey, light grey, and white. We were not given black but we were told to make our own black from mixing ultramarine blue and burnt umber. It was important to keep our brushes clean and maintain a clean jar of water. She said it was ok to see the brushstrokes.
We had a choice for the pie. Everyone picked the lattice apple pie so I picked the pumpkin with a couple candied cranberries on top. We also selected the plate that the pie would sit on!
There was one light source on each pie and we were told to look at where the light fell, what was in the shadow, what had light on it, what were the colors in the light and shadow, what did we see...
A student painting a slice of pie.
Lauren said that gouache was fun and easy to work with. She said it dried quickly and there were no mistakes. Things can be painted over! She said that gouache can be layered so it’s hard to “ruin” anything. So, I quietly listened. But when it was time to paint, I just stared. Everyone was busy painting. I just had a painted triangle and a lopsided circle. (Pie and saucer.) I would move from area to area and it wasn’t happening. Others were moving right along. Finally, after about 90 minutes, I started painting and I just kept going. It gave me a big appreciation for my daughter’s pie paintings.
Once I started painting, it all seemed to come together. I was stunned and surprised at what I accomplished. I think I am going to Michael’s to buy a frame so I can hang my pie painting in my home. So, it looks like I won’t be buying one of Lauren’s pie paintings...this week!
“Apple pie and apple slice” gouache on paper, 5x5 inches, by Deb Boyer.
Lauren chimes in: Thanks Mom for the guest blog post! Here’s an email I got from another student:
Hi Lauren,
Thanks for a great class today! It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon, and I really enjoyed experimenting with the paints with someone there to guide me…
My son and I painted our vase of flowers with the leftover paint and he loved it. He tried smushing it all around like he does with watercolor and was very excited when he figured out "oh! you have to go gentle with these paints!"
Thanks again,
Deb
This student took her paints home and made more art with her young son! This makes me so happy! I couldn’t ask for a better response to my first class! — Lauren
Next Pie Painting Class is Sunday, December 15th, 2-4 pm. Register here.
(You might also enjoy my mom’s post from last year, Girl with a Flute, describing her workshop with Rotem Amizur.)