Wednesday, June 23, 2010

"Kiwi"

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"Kiwi"
5 x 7 in
Oil on Canvas Panel
I never painted kiwi before and was interested to do so, I tried just setting up the kiwi without cutting into it but it really wasn't too interesting.  After cutting them and seeing how beautiful they look inside I wanted to play around with the movement of slices, although it was pretty hard not eating them.   
I started with the usual dry brush approach to the drawing, no medium just raw umber on the brush.  After the drawing was established I started with darkest values first, using ivory black and bit of burnt umber.
Then I added the middle and lighter values using raw umber, cadmium orange, and titanium white.  Then I added more of the darker values on the second slice of kiwi and then when that was done I moved on to the lighter values of the inside of the kiwi.  I used viridian, cobalt blue, cadmium yellow pale hue, and titanium white.
Then I proceeded to fill in the rest of the darker areas of the sliced kiwi, I just used ivory black.  Then went back into the lighter values inside the kiwi and used the same mixture as I did before with the greens.
I am doing the same approach over and over with the lighter values in the kiwi pieces.
Then I added the cast shadows to tie in the kiwi slices to the base, I used burnt sienna, cadmium orange and ivory black.
For the lighter values of the table I used cerulean blue, and titanium white, I went back and made sure to softened the edges with the cast shadows and sharpen other edges of the kiwi.  Edges can become very tricky when finishing each stage of the painting, paying close attention to them will benefit you'r painting in ten folds.  Then I filled in the background I used cerulean blue and titanium white, again I went around the edges of the kiwi when filling the background and softened the edges where they needed to be done.
This is the finished painting, after touching up the edges I went back into the kiwi and added some highlights.  This was a unique painting to do because of the composition and what I was trying to achieve with the slices.  Thanks for stopping by and viewing, hope you enjoyed!

6 comments:

Judith said...

Congratulations ! on winning the Daily Painters contest. Nice composition!

SEILER said...

This is cool man, love how you arranged the fruit before painting it . . . smart design.

suzanneberry said...

Beautiful, really beautiful! Congratulations and welcome. Your work is breathtaking, I'm so
looking forward to seeing more.

Alicia said...

I am really glad you won the daily painters contest. I *love* your work and your posts. The composition of this kiwi is awesome.

Do you mind sharing: what is your favorite brand of oil paints? I have been using (and loving) the Daniel Greene paint line by Richeson but it is being discontinued and I am curious what brands other people know and love? :)

Paintings by Patricia said...

Congratulations on winning the daily painter's competition. I am in awe of your work, truly magnificent.

Virginia Young said...

Congratulations!!!
You are truly blessed and thank you so much for sharing, and even though you show the process of the beauty you create, I still am in wonder of how you did it...