"Baby Pineapple"

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"Baby Pineapple"

7 x 5 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I never knew these guys existed a baby version of a pineapple, I was seriously laughing in the middle of the grocery store when I saw this.  Of course it was to go not to paint, its just such a neat looking fruit with its miniature size.  Its overall colors are pretty subtle, the yellows are the only intense chroma on this fruit.  I also wanted to play again with a wash in the background by just using turps, and burnt umber.  I like the look it gave it, more of a rustic look than what I expected.  

As stated before I did a wash of turps and burnt umber the night before on the panel, I let it dry and the next day I used it.  I don't mind doing this but I think a longer drying time is better, I found my black sinking right away and also the paints did not lay in a consistent manner I'm used to.  I did the drawing with a bit of raw umber on the brush and no mediums.  When the drawing was completed I started on the round shape of the pineapple, I just concentrated on the form and how the light turned with it.  I stated the general colors that turn with the form which is also know as big form modeling.  Once that's stated I go back to the darker areas emphasizing the darker shapes, and start to add the smaller forms.  

Then I move into the middle and lighter values doing the same as I did with the darker values, always adjusting the intensity of the chroma and hue to the overall value of the form.  The bigger form modeling is a blue print on how light and dark my smaller forms can be.  The colors I use are ultramarine, burnt umber, cad. yellow pale hue, cad. orange, cerulean, and titanium white.

Once the pineapple is completed I start on the leaves, I apply a scumbling effect of the local color emphasizing the direction of light.  Then I state the darker values to give more turn of light with the overall form.  The colors I'm using is viridian deep, cad. yellow pale hue, and burnt umber.

Then I apply the lighter values tie-ing together the leaves with the two values, when doing this I'm constantly thinking the overall effect of light wrapping around the form and its edges.  I also start work on the base which is pretty simple just using burnt umber, ultramarine blue, yellow ochre, and titanium white.  This was such a neat little painting to do although the wash in was a bit of an obstacle to work with, I learned how to work around it.  I hope you guys enjoyed this baby pineapple demo, thanks for stopping by and viewing!