My Life In Red

Tomato, 2006, oil on canvas mounted on panel, 10 x 8 inches

The color red became my favorite years ago when I was a teenager. In 1998 The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut put up one of the best shows in that museum's history. Caravaggio and His Italian Followers was a hit, and I was there to see the wonders of his canvases. I fell in love with the way he used bright reds and deep darks, colors I adopted in my early stages of painting. Throughout the years red has played an important part in my work, especially in my abstract work. It was no wonder that when I saw this tomato in my refrigerator I had to just paint it and to try to bring to the painting the brightness and richness of the tomato's color. It has been a struggle trying to get it right, used two kinds of Cadmium Red, Indian Red, and Genuine Vermilion, among other colors. I think I'm done now, I'm happy with it...I don't think I can make it any brighter!