Heirloom Tomato: Rarity, Please Re-Seed

Heirloom Tomato: Rarity, Please Re-Seed Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 inches, 2016 by Sarah Atlee. $1380 For purchase inquiries, contact Cerulean Gallery at 214.564.1199.

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Heirloom Tomato

"Heirloom tomatoes have become increasingly popular and more readily available in recent years. According to tomato experts Craig LeHoullier and Carolyn Male, heirloom tomatoes can be classified into four categories: family heirlooms, commercial heirlooms, mystery heirlooms, and created heirlooms. They are grown for a variety of reasons, such as historical interest, access to wider varieties, and by people who wish to save seeds from year to year, as well as for their taste, which is widely perceived to be better than "conventional" tomatoes."

Heirloom Tomato: Rarity, Please Re-Seed. Detail view 1. Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 inches, 2016 by Sarah Atlee.

Seeding (Filesharing)

"A seed refers to a machine possessing some part of the data. A peer or downloader becomes a seed when it starts uploading the already downloaded content for other peers to download from. This includes any peer possessing 100% of the data or a web seed. When a downloader starts uploading content, the peer becomes a seed.

"Seeding refers to leaving a peer's BitTorrent client open and available for additional individuals to download from. Normally, a peer should seed more data than download. However, whether to seed or not, or how much to seed, depends on the availability of downloaders and the choice of the peer at the seeding end."

Heirloom Tomato: Rarity, Please Re-Seed. Detail view 2. Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 inches, 2016 by Sarah Atlee.

Heirloom Tomato: Rarity, Please Re-Seed is available at Cerulean Gallery as part of the exhibition On Edge Part I, featuring work by Sarah Atlee, Fritz Danner, Nic Noblique, and Victoria Taylor-Gore, on display 16 September - 28 October 2016. Visit Cerulean Gallery to learn more.

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Red Shows Saturday 11.15.2008 in OKC

This'n: Red Dot Show, an annual fundraiser for the Individual Artists of Oklahoma Gallery (IAO). 811 N Broadway Ave, Oklahoma City. Saturday November 15th, 7-11 pm. Click here for ticket information. At the Red Dot Show, in addition to auctioning artists' works, IAO does something different. A group of artists (myself included) [scratch that, I wasn't included] has agreed to auction "blank canvases" -- that is, they are selling commissions. When a buyer purchases a blank canvas from me, the artist agrees to paint them a commissioned work.

And That'n: The Red Show: What Makes You See Red? An annual fundraiser for the Red Line Foundation, a local organization promoting education and awareness about HIV/AIDS. AKA Gallery, 3001 Paseo, Oklahoma City. Saturday November 15th, 8 pm to midnight. Tickets available at Moda Salon, The Velvet Monkey Salons, the 42nd Street Candy Company, or at the gallery door.

My friend and colleage Ashley Griffith is a cofounder of Red Line, and is lending us her Paseo gallery space for this exhibit of red art. (The show guidelines stipulate that works must be at least fifty percent red.) Below are the three paintings I made for this show. I have included in-progress shots to give an idea of how I build layers in a painting. (Secretly I hope that in five years I look back at these and think, "Gracious Aunt Betsy, what was I thinking? I am SO much better at layering now.")

I began with photos of my subjects, which I doctored in PhotoShop to shift the color balance toward the red end of the spectrum. I drew very basic pencil outlines on my blank canvases. The underpaintings are thin layers of red (cadmium and napthol), yellow (cadmium and naples), and sienna.

This is one of my palettes at the beginning of a painting session. I use styrofoam takeout trays. When they get full of paint, I let them dry and then apply a thin coat of gesso. Top row: burnt sienna, cadmium red light, cadmium red dark, napthol pink (mixture). Second row: burnt sienna (liquid acrylic), Golden glaze in rust, Golden glaze in yellow ochre, Liquitex portrait pink (mixture). Third row: burnt umber (liquid acrylic), van dyke brown, unbleached titanium (mixture), cadmium yellow. Bottom row: payne's gray (liquid acrylic), neutral gray, titanium white. Not pictured: alizarin crimson.

This is a different palette, after a painting session.

Recently I am taking a more painterly approach to my work. Looking back at the last couple of years I have felt like a drafstman who uses paint. I've missed the tactile and aesthetic pleasures of pushing paint around, building layers of color, and laying down single, decisive brush strokes.

The Dave painting was not fit to be photographed at this point. In the final piece, you will see that I changed direction somewhat. As a professor of mine says, every painting goes through an ugly stage.

Charlie: Stripes, acrylic on canvas, 2008 by Sarah Atlee

Dave: Red, acrylic on canvas, 2008 by Sarah Atlee

Trent: Halvsies, acrylic on canvas, 2008 by Sarah Atlee

A warm thank-you to my sitters, including Mr. Trent Lawson.