First Cherries!

First Cherries. Oil on Linen Panel. 6 x 8. 2010.

My brother-in-law manages cherry orchards in Yakima so I have a hotline to the status of the Washington state cherry harvest. They're ripe! So today my grocery list read as follows: cherries, mousetrap, red wine.

Why a mousetrap? For years we had a cat named Chester who cleared out everything smaller than him within a 400 foot radius. Sadly, after a happy life hunting animals, spraying my walls and sleeping on the furniture, Chester died on March 5th. He was a tomcat among tomcats, bringing in hundreds of animals to play with and then kill: mice, birds (jays, starlings and sadly, one of a pair of cedar waxwings), bats, rats, possums. Everything. We have great Chester stories. But he's gone and it took no time for the mice to spread the word among whatever social media they use. Twitter?

Comments

merci33 said…
Love the cherries.

I've hopped over from Alyson's current Cultivate Collectors class after reading your review of artist efile sytems...grand work and savvy writing.

Oh..and :-( to Chester's passing...he sounds like a stellar boy.

good luck with the mice...yeah...they would most likely use Twitter...unless they've invented Squeaker.

cheers!
June 24, 2010 at 7:55 AM
Dan McShane said…
I am no match with Chester's quik pounce as the mouse eluded me after I caught him tweeting under the oven.
June 24, 2010 at 10:46 AM
kat said…
I thought it was interesting to compare your painting of cherries from last years to your more recent one. The older one was juicy but the recent painting was polished.
June 24, 2010 at 5:50 PM
loriann signori said…
Lisa, Your use of negative space is what strikes me in this painting. Beautiful use of shadows and background"stripes."
I look forward to eating pounds of those delicious washington cherries when I am there next month.
Sorry about Chester. he seems like quite a dude.
June 24, 2010 at 6:37 PM
Lisa McShane said…
Thanks all - I do miss Chester (although I cursed him plenty when he was with us)

Welcome merci33! Thanks for stopping by!

Dan - very short tweets I'm sure!

kat - uh oh, I like juicy! I actually felt rusty with the direct painting.

loriann - they are delicious! If you're here at just the right time there'll be raspberries, blueberries and cherries at once!
June 24, 2010 at 6:56 PM
Ann Chaikin said…
Hi Lisa,
I really like these cherries. They look good enough to eat.

Thanks for commenting on my Woodstock trees.
June 25, 2010 at 8:48 AM
Dan McShane said…
The mouse met his end next to the old bag of cat food.
June 25, 2010 at 10:24 AM
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