A tisket, a tasket, what's in the basket?

 

I didn't want an empty basket so it was time to choose something. Fruit seemed to be a good choice but which one?

My first thought was baobab fruit, an African superfruit. Though I have seen lots of baobab trees I do not have a good reference for its fruit.

But, I do have good photos of sausage trees I saw and could use its fruit. With a little bit of research I find that once roasted the sausage tree fruit is good to eat but in its raw form it is toxic to humans. I scratched that idea as I didn't want her holding a basket of poisonous fruit! 

What about mangoes? I've had some delicious mangoes in Kenya. But, when were mango trees introduced to Kenya? If it was in the 1960s or so, I'd be adding a modern element which I didn't want. Once again, research. Mango trees are presumed to have been introduced to Kenya in the 10th century. Great, ancient enough for me.

 

Now, to get some reference of mangoes. (My favorite dried mangoes from Trader Joe's would not work.) I headed to the grocery store for mangoes. Kenya has six popular mango varieties and I could turn any of my local variety in to one of them.

 

So many decisions go in to a painting. It is details, like what to put in a basket, which make trying new things interesting. 

 

 

 

 

 

Hands and Basket

 

My model has beautiful hands. When she was at my house for the photo shoot, her nails were perfectly "dressed" with a bright red nail polish. It looked wonderful on her but was not the natural vision I had for the painting. Using artistic license, I "removed" the nail polish and in a future post you will see what I came up with for her nails.

 

 

 When I was thinking of the painting I had the idea of her holding a basket. I have a number of baskets but none were authentically Kenyan. So, I ordered one. Wanting something simple, I thought this one had just enough interest but did not draw attention away from the rest of the painting.

 

 

 

 

 

More

For the highlights on her hair I used ultramarine blue and King's blue mixed with titanium white.

 

 

 The dress my model wore had short sleeves. For a more traditional Maasai look I painted her without the sleeves.

 

 

Kenyan native

My model has wonderfully warm and welcoming eyes. None of that is captured with a camera. It takes time together to see the person within.

 

 

This is just the start of the face. I worked on it throughout the painting of the piece.

 

Happy New Year!

 Wishing you the best for 2026!

 

 

As an artist I try to "stretch my brushes" by trying new techniques, colors, designs, subjects, and stories. My last painting of 2025 utilized all of these and is one of my most ambitious paintings to date. 

 

My African paintings almost exclusively feature the wildlife of this continent. But, the people of Africa are an essential part of the story. A dear friend of mine from Kenya was eager to model for this piece.

 

First I wanted to come up with a unique way to tell the story. As I tossed and turned in bed to figure out a way to frame the story it came to me. Make the background all sepia toned. It would have a timeless feeling and my model would stand out. 

 

After that decision, all I had to get was reference photos of my model. She and her fiance came up to the house for dinner. She wore just what I needed for the vision for my painting. I took some 470 reference photos outside in late afternoon light and I had the basis for the piece. I would be making changes such as removing the short sleeves of the dress, removing fingernail polish and make-up, changing the bead color in places, changing the leg stance, and other details.

 

Once I got to this point in the painting I realized the sky was more gray than I wanted for the sepia toned background. I really liked how the clouds came out so decided to continue with the painting and pull the whole sepia feeling together in the background once the painting was dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another painting finished

 On October 23 I published my last post on a lion painting I was working on. Then I waited for the bottom layer of the grass to dry. Then painted more grass. Then waited. Then painted more grass.

 

I finally had the completely dry painting scanned last week.

 

 

 

Waiting for Nightfall

Original oil by Linda Besse

24" X 36" 

 

 The title is part of the story. I envision this lion coming back from eying the wildebeest and zebra below. Looking over his dinner options is a hallmark of a good hunter. 

 

 

 

 

Finished

 

America the Beautiful

Original oil painting by Linda Besse

36" X 24"