Monday, November 1, 2010

"Radishes"

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"Radishes"
8 x 10 in
Oil on Canvas Panel
I haven't painted these little guys in a while and they're always a challenge to paint, especially in one sitting.  I wanted to incorporate more of the leaves in this painting and give it a gestural quality.  It's interesting painting greens and reds together since they are complimentary colors, I like how they play against each other in this painting.   
I started with the usual dry brush approach for the drawing stage using no mediums and just a bit of raw umber.  Then I covered the background first again using cerulean blue, naples yellow, and titanium white.  
Then I started on the wooden base starting with darkest values using ivory black, cad. orange, burnt sienna.  Then for the lighter and middle values I used burnt sienna, cerulean blue, and titanium white.
After the wooden base was completed I moved onto the leaves of the radishes, I started on the darkest values first.  I used ivory black, viridian, and cad. yellow light.  As you can see with these pictures I put the darks where they are suppose to be and the also did the same for the middle values.  
Then for the lighter values I did the same using cad. yellow light and titanium white.  After the color notes are on the right spots I started to mold them and blend to the level they needed to be taken at.  Its tricky painting like this because you can easily go overboard with the application of paint and not keep control throughout.  
Then I started on the radishes and again starting with the darkest values moving towards the lights.  I applied the darker notes first and then added the middle value notes.  I used cad. red light, cad. orange, and ivory black.  
This is the finished picture, after the last pic I added the lighter values or the highlights which is basically adding the last details.  I'm really liking this technique that I'm using, it's a little different than my usual approach but it expedites the process and makes the colors richer.  It's still a work in progress and I'm excited with the direction this is going.  Thanks for stopping by and viewing, hope you enjoyed!







2 comments:

Judy P. said...

Hi Jonathan- beautiful painting; your massing in of the leaves, and then modeling them, is interesting. You always show something to think about. Love the root tails you gave the radishes!

Carrie Waller Watercolors said...

Beautiful radishes! I'm not a real fan of eating radishes, but you have just shown me the beauty of them. Such beautiful colors:)