"Mango Ataulfo"

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"Mango Ataulfo"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

These mangos were so much fun to paint, they are very unique.  I have never heard of these mangos before, I love going to the local market and finding unique fruits and vegetables from all over the world.  I also wanted to let everyone know that I will be teaching classical painting and drawing, and figure drawing at a new academy opening up in Minneapolis.  The name of the school is "Classical Academy of Art" you can see the website here, if you are interested in taking classes with me let me know or you can go to the site and sign up as well.  

I started with the usual dry brush approach, no mediums on the brush just a little burnt umber.

I then went straight into the darks of the mangos, using burnt umber, permanent rose, and ivory black.  I am keeping the paints really thin in this stage so it dries quicker.

Then I started to add the mid tones and a little of the lighter tones, I used viridian, cobalt blue, cadmium yellow light, cadmium orange, and permanent rose.  You can see that I am dabbing the colors in the areas they need to be in, I'm not pressing too hard with the brush so I can get the subtle tones that I want.  I treat the brush how I would treat my pen or pencil when I draw, each stroke you lay down you have to be aware of the tones and edges that you'r stating because it leads one to the other.

The highlights are then introduced after the mid tones are looking right, I go back and forth making sure that the form is turning with the values and chroma's that I am laying down.  Again these layers are pretty thin it's a good rule to always remember fat over lean, you want to progressively get thicker with your paints in each layer that you paint.  This will prevent your painting from cracking in the long term.

Then I added the base and a bit of information in it, this is a different base that I've painted before.  It was the bottom of a wooden tray that we use, I love the patterns it has.  I am laying down the paints thin and also going around the edges with the mangos and softening it and bringing some edges sharper, but again not going to thick with the paints.  The colors I used for the base was yellow ochre, burnt umber, permanent rose, and ivory black.

Then I added the background, I used cobalt blue, naples yellow, and titanium white.  Again just going with the background color around the edges of the mango's and base, making sure the edges are softening and meshing with the subjects.

I then went back into the base and started to add the lighter tones which was naples yellow, yellow ochre, and titanium white. I also went into the mangos and started to add more of the mid tones and darker tones, in this stage I start slowing down and be more aware of subtle tones within the mangos.

The highlights are stated as well with the mid tones in the mangos, I also went back around the mangos to clean the edges and look more presentable.  The overall painting was a delight to do, these mangos have subtle colors going into another which makes it so cool to paint.  I hope you guys enjoyed this one and thanks for stopping by!