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I paint a lot of lemons.  And tangerines, kumquats, camellias, bougainvillea, etc. etc.

As a still life painter I love to paint from life, mostly living things, which puts me at the mercy of what’s available at the moment. Fortunately I live in California.  And in California even the dead of winter provides me with loads of sumptuous lemons and other citrus, as well as a variety of flowers.  Camellias bloom in the fall and winter here, and bougainvillea, my favorite perennial, is available in various colors literally all year round.  The lemons ripen in mid-winter and I have learned – ya gotta paint ‘em while ya got ‘em!

I was born in California, Los Angeles actually, in an area that is now a gang-infested ghetto.  I grew up in Orange County, breathing in the smog, surrounded by traffic noise and crowds of people.  The orange groves around my childhood home gradually morphed into subdivisions, strip malls and freeway offshoots.  Pastoral views of unspoiled nature were not exactly abundant.  I always fantasized leaving California for a small town somewhere where it snows, where no freeways existed, and the ground beneath my feet was actually soil instead of asphalt.  Just somewhere quieter and more in tune with nature.

California definitely has its drawbacks.  Unaffordable home prices.  The taxes are astronomical.  High crime rates. The traffic - ugh!  But these days, as I look out my window on a mid-winter afternoon and see my beautiful lemons peeking out from their leafy hideouts, my bird of paradise plants in full bloom, my kumquat tree heavy with brilliant orange fruit and the hummingbirds enjoying my azaleas - all at a time when other areas of the country are longing for just a glimpse of the sun - I think I’ll stay put.  

This morning I took a walk in brilliant sunshine in 70 degrees.  Came home and picked a bowl of juicy sweet cherry tomatoes from my vegetable garden, all on a day that bundled-up inhabitants of some other parts of the country are scraping ice off their windshields and shoveling snow from their driveways. Yikes!

So yeah, I’ll take California any day.

I am fortunate to have nature’s gifts in my backyard even in the middle of winter, and the beauty of these gifts never ceases to amaze me.  Soon, spring will bring even more subjects for paintings - wildflowers in the fields, roses just starting to bloom, as well as stunning sunsets over pristine beaches.  I feel blessed.

I know it’s not perfect, but my lemon tree and I agree - California is a pretty nice place to call home.