Monday, August 9, 2010

"Sun Jewel Melon"

"Sun Jewel Melon"
5 x 7 in
Oil on Canvas Panel
This melon is pretty unusual the green stripes going along the yellow body makes it appealing to paint, the rough texture outside combined with the smoothness on the inside is a perfect ingredient to paint.
I started with a dry brush approach using raw umber and no mediums, then I decided after the drawing was done to change the procedure and start with the background first.  I used cerulean blue, naples yellow, and titanium white for the background, I decided to go background first to change it up and see if the process can go faster.
Then I started with the base using burnt sienna, ivory black, cadmium orange, cadmium red light, then for the middle and lighter values I used burnt sienna, cerulean blue, and titanium white.  I'm constantly going back and forth from darker to lighter values adjusting them to work well with each other.
Then I started with the first going from darker values to the lighter ones using yellow ochre pale, cadmium yellow light, titanium white, cadmium orange, and cobalt blue.  You can see with the second pic how I start with the melons going from the slice darker value side and then moving towards the lighter side, again as stated before I'm going back and forth adjusting the values and chroma's.
I'm doing the same process with the other two slices.
This is the finished picture I enjoyed the fluidity and change of procedure I made with this painting, going from background to foreground is not a new thing too me but applying it to these studies is a new area for me.  Experimenting with new techniques and procedures is fun to do especially when painting everyday, thanks for stopping by and viewing I hope you enjoyed!

1 comment:

Paintings by Patricia said...

What an unusual melon. This is beautifully done. I am in awe of your work.