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My Go-To Bartlett Pear Canning Recipe

by In Inspiration, Studio Notes Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

A Kitchen Overflowing with Pears

This year our Bartlett and Asian pear trees have been unbelievably generous and we’ve harvested over a thousand pears! While the orchard is beautiful, it also means long hours in the kitchen. I have two kids that love pears so all the extra work is worth it.

After sharing some of my pear paintings recently (you can see them here: A Season of Pears blog post), I thought it would be fun to also share the recipe I use to preserve Bartlett pears. It’s simple, sweet, and keeps us stocked through the winter and beyond.

Bartlett Pear Water Bath Canning Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 8–10 pounds of ripe but firm Bartlett pears
  • 8 cups water
  • 2 cups sugar (for a light syrup — adjust to taste)
  • 4 tablespoons lemon juice
  • Cinnimon sticks
  • whole cloves

Instructions:

  1. Wash, peel, and slice the pears. To prevent browning, place prepared pears in a bowl of water with lemon juice.
  2. Fill up and heat the water in your canning pot and heat up your canning jars. In a second large pot, combine the water and sugar. Heat until the sugar dissolves, making a light syrup.
  3. Pour the cut pears into the light syrup and boil for 5 minutes.
  4. Pack the pear slices into the hot sterilized jars, and add 1/4 cinnimon stick and a clove to each jar.
  5. Pour the hot syrup over the pears, leaving ½ inch of headspace. Use a butter knife to push out air bubbles from around the pears.
  6. Wipe rims clean, apply lids and bands.
  7. Process jars in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes (adjusting for altitude as needed).
  8. Remove and let cool — you’ll hear that satisfying “ping” as the jars seal.

That’s it! Simple, sweet, and delicious!

detail of bartlett pear oil painting by Rebecca Luncan

From Orchard to the Art Gallery

What I love most about this process is how it connects to my studio practice. Just as I capture pears in jars for the winter, I’ve also captured them with paint in my still life paintings. Each approach preserves the fleeting beauty of the season in its own way.

If you’d like to see how pears have inspired my art, take a look at my Monthly Miniatures series, or visit my recent post: A Season of Pears.

And if you’d like more seasonal updates, stories from the studio, and first looks at new paintings, you can sign up for my newsletter here.

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A Season of Pears

by In still life, Studio Notes Tagged , , , , , , ,

Pear Harvest at Home

It’s pear season at my house, and our Bartlett and Asian pear trees are giving us more fruit than we can count — definately over a thousand this year! The branches have been so heavy with fruit that keeping up with the harvest has felt like its own full-time job.

My picky 9-year-old’s favorite treat is canned pears, so I’ve been staying up until 1am many nights, filling jars for the winter. It’s a labor of love, and one that connects directly to the rhythms of the season and to our family traditions.

Curious how I preserve all these pears? You can find my Bartlett Pear Canning Recipe here ».

Miniature still life oil painting on aluminum of black capped chickadee, Chinese porcelain and bartlet pears by Rebecca Luncan
Coming in for a Landing, oil on aluminum, 5.5″ x 4.5″

Pears as Artistic Inspiration

Over the years, pears have also made their way into my artwork. Their subtle curves, warm colors, and varied textures are endlessly inspiring. From luminous green to the golden blush of ripening fruit, I’ve found that each pear has its own personality.

In this post I’ve gathered a few of my paintings that feature Bartlett pears, including a detail from one of my larger still lifes. These works celebrate the fruit not just as food, but as a timeless subject in still life painting. Like the Dutch masters, I love the challenge of turning something so familiar into something worth lingering over.

If you’d like to see how these pear paintings connect to my ongoing projects, I’ve also included pears in my Monthly Miniatures series.

Pears and Peacock Swallowtail Butterfly framed still life oil painting by Rebecca Luncan
Pears and the Emerald Swallowtail, oil on aluminum, 4.5 x 5.5

Art and Life Intertwined

As I’ve been canning late into the night, surrounded by the scent of pears and the sound of jars sealing, I’ve realized how naturally the cycles of my daily life overlap with my creative work. Harvesting, preserving, and painting all share a common thread: they ask for close attention, patience, and care.

Pears on the table and pears on the canvas — both are ways of preserving something fleeting.

If you’d like to follow along for future paintings and seasonal stories like this, you can sign up for my newsletter here.

detail of bartlett pear oil painting by Rebecca Luncan
detail of Pears and Japanese Porcelain, oil on aluminum, 8″ x 10″
still life oil painting of french pear tart by Rebecca Luncan
French Pear Tart, oil on copper, 5″ x 5″
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Introducing Artist Joey Bates

by In Inspiration, Studio Notes

I’m thrilled to introduce you to a dear friend and incredibly talented artist, Joey Bates, who has recently taken on the Monthly Miniature challenge alongside me. Joey and I first met years ago in Seattle at a weekly open studio co-hosted by artist Tim Marsden and myself. Though Joey now lives in Sweden, we’ve been able to rekindle that creative exchange through Signal, thanks to a fellow artist and mutual friend, Susan Lewandowski.

This month, Joey and I decided to take on a shared theme: dragonflies. Scroll down to see his November miniature—a stunningly intricate cut-paper dragonfly that showcases his signature precision and attention to detail.

If you’re not yet familiar with Joey’s work, I can’t recommend it highly enough. His pieces are thoughtful, beautiful, and quietly powerful. I’m so excited to see where the Monthly Miniature journey takes him, and I hope you’ll follow along too.

You can contact Joey directly to inquire about purchasing this piece, sign up for his newsletter to stay updated on new work, and be sure to check out his brand-new flower shop that just opened!

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Painting cows: Going afield for inspiration, and preparing for an exhibition

by In Studio Notes Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

The Nashville area has become a special place for me. Two of my sisters and my adorable nephew and niece are there, so it’s become a go-to spots for family travel. And just outside Nashville, I have discovered the wondrous Holly Belle on Instagram. Even if you didn’t grow up with a dad that brought home a baby cow in the back of the station wagon (true story!), Holly’s “puppy cow” jumping around in the dining room of her house is sure to make you happy. Her mini cows have inspired my paintings and drawings in the recent past, and I have three paintings of cows started, shown above in various states of completion.

Please visit my Into the Country series to see more paintings of animals.

March In the Artist’s Studio: Commissioned Paintings and Custom Frames

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pet portrait painting of cat in progress by Rebecca Luncan

Shiro in progress
5″ x 5″
oil on aluminum

Child Portrait painting in progress by Rebecca Luncan

Robbie in progress
oil on aluminum
17″ x 15″

Painting in a traditional style, takes many layers of paint and lots of time.

Visiting an artist’s studio, you will see multiple painting in the various stages of completion. By first doing a thin coat of paint and mixing more oil medium with my paints for each successive layer (known as working lean to fat), my paintings will last for many hundreds of years without cracking or buckling. Not all artists care about the longevity of their paintings, but for me, I care out of respect for what I’m doing and for the work countless others have done throughout the long history of painting to figure out best practices. It also creates a rich depth that you can’t get with just one layer of paint!

Please take a look at my pet and human portrait galleries and visit my Commissions page to learn more about my commission process!

Octagonal picture frame

Octagonal picture frame in progress

Artist Rebecca Luncan cutting a liner for a custom frame on a scroll saw

Cutting a liner for a custom frame

An artist’s studio isn’t only for painting!

I often hire local framers (my favorite in Seattle is Gallery Frames) but sometimes I like to make and finish them myself. This frame, pictured in multiple parts above, will be for an oval family portrait I made several months ago. It took some brainstorming to figure out the perfect frame! See the post with the completed frame.

I hope you’ll check back soon to see how these pieces progress!

On the Easel: January Commissions

by In Studio Notes Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Child Portrait painting in progress by Rebecca Luncan

Portrait painting of Robbie in progress

 

French bulldog and Cat miniature portrait paintings in progress by Rebecca Luncan

Henry (left) and Corinna (right) miniature paintings in progress

I’m very excited to start off the year with three new commissions

I book out my commissions almost a year in advance, so I’ve had months to look forward to working on these paintings. The miniature of Henry and Corinna should go pretty quickly, but Robbie will take more time because not only is it a much larger painting filled with a wide variety of details, painting people is much more difficult than painting animals. I’m especially excited at how the subjects for this month are varied, but so in tune with what I love to paint.

I hope you’ll check back to see how the paintings progress and you can see some finished pieces in the Portraits gallery and Pet Portraits gallery.

On the Easel: A Family Portrait in Miniature

by In Studio Notes Tagged , , , ,

Smith-family

 

Painting an eye about the size of a grain of rice takes quite a lot of concentration.

Though I usually like to have lots of paintings going at once, this August most of my time will be spent working on a miniature 5″ x 6″ family portrait. Once I had the underpainting finished, I realized this painting would take a lot of focus to finish. I’ve been using every spare minute to move this little portrait along, and as long as I keep holding my breath at just the right times, it looks like it will turn out nicely!

It’s almost done, so check back soon to see the finished piece!

On the Easel: July In Progress

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Works In Progress, Monthly Miniatures Rabbit and Honey Bees, oil on copper, 4" x 4" each

Works In Progress: Monthly Miniatures ‘Rabbit’ and ‘Honey Bees’, each 4″ x 4″ painted in oil on copper

Busy as a bee! Working on two Monthly Miniatures at once.

Being a new mom means I really have to make good use of my limited studio time, and I have to be ready to use any spare moment. Though I am already the sort of artist to work on several pieces at once, it’s now especially useful for me to have several paintings in the works. Working in oils, one layer has to dry before the next one starts, which means lots of downtime where I can’t work, if I’m only working on one painting at a time. The drying time can be up to three days (‘Titanium White’ is the worst, it can take a week to dry if it’s cold in the studio). Though I only plan to finish the bees this month, I already have a head start on September’s miniature painting, and I’m excited to see it take form (‘Rabbit,’ above)!

Work In Progress, Rabbit Portrait, oil on copper, 2" x 2" by Rebecca Luncan

Work In Progress, Rabbit Portrait, oil on aluminum, 2″ x 2″

Even more rabbits for a group show in October at Childhood’s End Gallery

I’m really excited to be a part of an anniversary exhibition featuring small works at Childhood’s End Gallery in Olympia this fall. This little guy I found has lots of great colors in his fur, and I’m anxious to finish it! It will be displayed along with two portraits of my rabbits, Charlie and Ellie: I’ll post them all together when they’re ready!

 

artist Rebecca Luncan working in the studio on figurative oil painting

Work in progress, Oil on aluminum, 24″ x 36″

Steady as she goes! Progress on my figurative painting series

Somehow I’ve officially been working on this painting for a year! It’s large and detailed, and there has been a lot on my plate. But I am eager to wrap it up and continue with the series, so I have set a deadline to finish it by the end of the year! Expect to see more progress shots in coming months.

On the Easel in June

by In Studio Notes Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Black-cat-in-progress

Black Cat in progress – experimenting with background treatments

Despite my hungry little bundle joy, (i.e. my adorable, two month old son Isaac), June is off to a great start in the studio. Here’s a peak at four little paintings I’m working on right now.

The first of the lot is of Jolly Rajah, the black cat. I actually started this one months ago as an experiment related to the monthly miniature series (I considered a series of black cats). I had considered this little one finished, and originally it featured a window with a tree in the background. But it didn’t seem right to me, and I ended up going with the Into the Country idea instead. After contemplating it for a while, I’m reworking this little guy. I’m trying out a simplified background now, working to define his features a bit more, and also to create a stronger focal point at his lovely eyes.

I love the beautiful little 1920’s brass and celluloid miniature frame I have for it, so I’m hoping to salvage the painting. I’m also hoping that working through this painting, will help me get a better idea of what will work in the fourteen remaining frames I’ve been collecting in this style. Here’s a link to the finished painting!

 

Oliver-in-progress

Commission In Progress

I love painting animals, but I have to admit to a special soft spot for dogs

This little guy is my top priority in the studio right now. He’s the first of my June Miniature Pet Portrait Specials and will be completed in time for a special occasion. I have added a couple coats of paint since taking this photo, and I plan to have it finished by the end of the week so it can be shipped out to its new home right away. 

 

miniature rabbit paintings in progress

Rabbit Couple in progress

Rabbits for a group show in October at Childhood’s End Gallery

I told you there would be more rabbits! It’ll be hard to separate these two paintings, and I’m considering selling them as a pair. Once they’re finished, they’ll go in a lovely pair of matching antique frames I’ve been saving for just the right couple. I’m planning on three or four more rabbit portraits and will be on the lookout for new models! Contact me if you have a willing bunny!