Anna’s Apples – Oil on Panel, 8 x 10 inches
I was getting more uncomfortable as we walked along – Michelle, the kids and I. Surely this was private land?
Our eldest boy (just turned 9) had told us about these amazing apple trees just around the corner, so we’d come prepared with a big bowl and an old iron bucket.
And the trees were amazing.
All thought of ownership of said trees evaporated as they came into view, laden with apples and the ground beneath them carpeted with even more.
And these weren’t the pretty, perfect apples you see in supermarkets. They were lumpy, uneven, all sizes, some still with leaves and some still stuck to twigs.
Proper apples. We started filling the bucket – mostly with wind fall, but with (I admit) one or two beauties from the trees.
Who’s apples?
A cry stopped me suddenly. I looked up to see Anna, our neighbour and (as we now know) the owner of these trees, rushing over to us.
She wasn’t angry. She wasn’t even upset. But she did want us to leave her apples alone, because she liked to invite the local kids from surrounding villages over to pick them when the trees were ready.
Suitably chastened (but still loaded up with the apples we already had, which she was adamant we keep) we headed home.
This was a month or so ago, and the blackberries were still out. Even after two very large apple and blackberry pies, there were still lots left for me to paint – and in fact quite a few of the recent apple paintings, including this one, were the result of that trip.
Thankfully I’ve now found an apple farm near us, and Helen and Dave, the owners, are very happy for me to pop over and pick a few to paint now and again. More on that soon!
In the mean time, this painting is up for auction for the next couple of days – the last painting of the apples from Stouts Hill 🙂
Best wishes and thanks for reading,
Paul
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Great story and a Beautiful painting. I actually made a good friend in Kottsweiler-Schwanden, Germany over picking someone’s apples. She was nearly 80 and we became walking partners when I visited my daughter in that area. I shared my attempts at apple strudel and gave her a painting of one of her apples. All was forgiven!
What a good idea, I think I’ll do the same 🙂
Ha! Ha! Since meeting you Paul, I figured that you would be painting one for Anna! <3
This is another beautiful painting. :0)
Yes, I thought you would paint her an apple as well…go for it! She may invite you back to pick more apples next year! Wonderful story!! Hope you are well. This painting is absolutely wonderful. The old pot you could just pick off the page! Beautiful work!!
I love this painting and the blog post! Thanks for sharing the story behind the painting!!!
I’d have been happy to see the Foxton clan picking my apples…only because the squirrels got all of them this year! I’ve got two honeycrisp apple trees that are overtaking my garden (in the US sense of ‘veggie patch’).
Hi there, Am visiting this site after years and loving it! I had it bookmarked, but if I remember correctly, this used to be an instructional website.
Please keep posting, am an active follower from today
Welcome back Meera 🙂
It still is instructional, although I suppose it’s changed a little over the years. Mostly I share stuff on live streams on facebook now, you can follow me there if you’d like to keep up with everything.
Paul, please continue to post your facebook livestreams here, …even if belatedly. Many of us don’t have Facebook for ethical and privacy reasons. I don’t “social network” …and so far have avoided Facebook, Instagram and the “the Cloud”.
I’m forced to (mis)trust Google due to professional needs to access Gmail. I have two inactive Blogger accounts, one of which I thought of using as an art-blog, so I’ve been reading your art-blog/ website commentary with interest. I just have to reconcile how to separate my avocational art-self from my professional practice online.
I love your work! We are coming to the Cotswolds for two weeks in September and I’m wondering where your work may be seen. Are you in a gallery or just online? And…where in the Cotswolds might you be found
Blessings, sue