"Strawberries 2"

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"Strawberries 2"

5 x 7 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I started this painting again with a dry brush approach, no mediums just a tiny bit of burnt umber.

After I got my drawing down I went straight into the background adding the first thin coat.  I go thin in the beginning because its easier to build on top and it does not get uncontrollable.

I thought I took a picture of just the strawberries before I painted the base.  I essentially painted the strawberries before the base as you see in this pic, just stated the local colors.  I made sure the form was turning before I moved onto the stems.  After stating the stems I went to the base and did the same just dabbed the correct colors in their areas not worried about blending everything to perfection.

After the base was stated I went into the strawberries and started to add the smaller forms.  I started with the lights and moved towards the darks.

After taking the strawberries to a finish I then moved onto the base and started to play around with it.  It was so much fun working in this size of painting and playing with different effects.  With the base I went from dark to light slowly adding the smaller forms, you do not want to rush this stage when you'r trying to bring things to a finish.  Tones change just by the pressure of your brush so you have to be very sensitive to that, in the beginning I go quick but towards the end I take my time.  I had lots of fun with this one, I hope you enjoyed it! Cheers!

"Strawberries"

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"Strawberries"

7 x 9 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I started this painting with a dry brush approach, as you can see thats my norm when I do these small paintings.  I also do not use any mediums in these paintings, just varnish in the end to seal it after its dried.

After the drawing was established I went into the leaves of the strawberries, I don't know why I did these first I guess they stood out at me from the beginning.  I went from dark to light and also not going too thick with the paints, remember in the beginning its best to go thin then you're finishing layer could be thicker.

After the leaves were stated I went into the strawberries, at this point I think I know what I am doing but I really don't.  Reason being these guys are tricky to paint, they look easy with their textures but they are not that easy.  You cannot handle this like a normal painting, back to my original thought at this stage I was applying the major local colors first, making the form turn.

After stating the forms with their somewhat correct colors, I went to the background and base.  At this point I am just laying the major information and leaving the smaller information till the end.

I went back into the strawberries and started hacking away at it.  I started to add smaller information and really learned a lot about these textures, they are more challenging then what I thought they would have been.  I wish I had more time with these guys but they are meant to be quick paintings so you take as much as you can from the short period of time you have to make them.

After adding more details to the strawberries I then went back to the leaves and brought out the darks.  I then went into the wood and also stated the smaller details which brought the painting together as well.  Overall I had a lot of fun with this one, very challenging but I learned a lot.  You can't always apply the same technique to every painting, you have to be versatile in order to achieve certain looks.  I hope you guys enjoyed this one, cheers!

"Tomatski 2"

"Tomatski 2"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I started with a dry brush and burnt umber, no mediums.

This is how I initially start the painting just keeping it loose and placing the chroma's in there right placement.

I then moved onto the stem and did the same just keeping it loose not blending everything to perfection, making sure the big forms are turning and not worrying about the smaller forms yet.

I then moved onto the base and background adding the local colors and blending the edges of the tomatoes to the background, making them work together so it does not look like a cut out painting.

This is the finished painting, I went back into the tomatoes and added the smaller forms and the highlights.  I  did the same with the stem, I cleaned the edges and added the smaller forms as well, I then went back into the wooden base and worked on the cast shadows and color variation through out the wood.  These tomatoes were fun too paint, very interesting to observe their texture and how much character their stems can give.  I hope you enjoyed this one!

"Tomatoes 1"

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"Tomatoes 1"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I started off with a dry brush approach, getting the right placement on the canvas and make it somewhat interesting visually.

After the drawing was completed I went into the tomatoes and established the local colors and went from the light tones to the darker tones.  Not blending everything to perfection just stating the general feel.

I then went into the wooden base and did the same, adding the local colors and getting a general feel.

I then went into the background and added the grey bluish tone and blended the edges with the wooden base and tomatoes.  I took the edges of the left tomato further than the right to give more of a focal point to the tomato on the right.

After messing around with the edges I went back into the wooden base and added the details.  I also went back into the tomatoes and pushed the darks darker and blended other areas further to give the smooth feel that the skin of the tomato gives off.  This painting was a lot of fun to do overall, I hope you enjoyed this one!

"Tomatski"

"Tomatski"

6 x 8 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

This is the drawing again with just a dry brush of burnt umber and no medium.

I then went straight into the tomato and stem, I added the local colors to them dabbing them in there correct placements and blending certain areas and leaving others loose.

I then proceeded to the background and wooden base, at this stage I am just seeing if the colors I choose will match well with the tomato or I'll have to alter it.

I had to alter the background to the original color which worked really well with it, after fixing that I went to the edges of the tomato and softened certain areas.  I then went into the tomato and added little details of the orange cadmium lights, and then went into the stem and added the highlights as well.  After  taking the tomato to a finish I went back into the base and added certain details that I thought would give it some character.  Overall the painting was a lot of fun to do and always learning from these small guys, I hope you guys enjoyed it!

"Carambola"

"Carambola"

8 x 8 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I started the drawing with a dry brush approach, getting the drawing down how I wanted it to look and getting the placement right.

I went straight into the Carambola adding the local colors, not blending everything to perfection.  I went from mid dark tones to mid light tones.

I then went and stated the background and base, after doing that I went back into the edges of the Carambola and softened some areas and hardened others.

I went back into the Carambola and smoothed out some areas and worked on the stem to make it sharper.

This is the finished painting I went back into the base and added the details.  I had fun with this painting a little harder than what I expected but nice to work on, these star fruits in Portuguese are called Carambola thats the reason I named this painting that.  I hope you enjoyed this one!

"Star Fruit"

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"Star Fruit"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Belgium Linen Panel

I started with a dry brush approach, I used burnt umber and no medium.

Then I just filled in the middle tone darks, not going too dark.

Then I added the local colors to the star fruit, not blending everything to perfection at this stage.  I am just stating the correct colors in their correct placements.

Then I added the background and went in the edges of the star fruit to push some areas back and bring some forward.

I then started to add details to the wood, which also gives it some movement in a subtle way.

This is the finished painting, after finishing the wood, I went back into the star fruits and added the subtle shifts of tones with the darks.  I also added little details on the light areas of the star fruit.  This painting was fun to do I have always wanted to do a painting of star fruits for some time now.  My mother has a lot of these guys in her backyard laying around, and they are really delicious to drink when they are squeezed into juice form.  I hope you had fun and enjoyed this one!

"Grapes 3"

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"Grapes 3"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I started with a dry brush with no mediums, I do all these small painting with no mediums.

Then I stated the darks, trying to see the value of the painting first.

Then I put the dead coloring of the grapes to mesh in with the darks and make the form turn.

I then put the dead coloring of the background and the base, not worrying about taking the painting to perfection in these early stages you just want to put the colors in their correct placements.

I then went back into the grapes and started work with the edges and also put more of the smaller information which gives each of the grapes their own character.  After I did that I went in and filled in the blacks, it really brought the painting together.  I usually do not wait this long to state the real darks but I knew if I did in the beginning the paint would of started to sink in.

This is the finished painting, I went into each grapes and played with lights and darks.  I also meshed the background with the foreground bringing that relationship closer.  This is the last grape painting for me, it was fun to do these serious of paintings, but I need a break from these guys they are pretty hard to paint in such a short period of time.  I have learned a lot from them and probably will paint them soon.  For now I hope you enjoyed these!