"Guava"

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"Guava"

5 x 7 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I love guava! There are these pastries in Miami that are called "Pasteles de Guava" (guava pastry) and they have been my favorite since I was a little kid.  They are so delicious I can eat at least 10 of them in one sitting, I guess you can tell my fascination with them.  I learned to pace myself since they are high in sugar, but whenever I go back home to visit I forget about pacing myself and overdose on guava! All worth it though.  Since painting this fruit I never knew how they looked and when I found them at the grocery store I was surprised to see them.  I set them up to paint and the strong sent of guava distracted me the whole time, a little distracting to say the least.  Now I can't wait to go back to Miami!

I also wanted to let everyone know that I made it to the top 5 of the Daily Painters art competition!  Thank you so much for voting for me, it means so much to me that I have made it this far and hopefully can win it by the 18th of June.  You can still vote for me and if you have in the past you can do it again just click on this link: http://www.dailypainters.com/blog/content/jonathan-aller  and when your there all you have to do is click on 5 stars and your done!  Thanks again everyone and I'll keep you posted on the results, 8 more days!  

I started with a dry brush approach as usual, I used very little of it on the brush with no mediums.  I mapped out my shadow shapes as well, again just keeping the lines fairly light, it makes it easier to go over it with thinner or thicker paints.  Then I started on the shadows I used ivory black for the majority of the shadows since there were no reflected light.

Then I added the mid values introducing some viridian, cobalt blue, and cadmium yellow light.  I am also going back to the shadows and making sure they are working together with the mid values and also working on the edges of the values.  Then I started to put the lighter values using titanium white, cadmium yellow light, and cerulean blue.  I also stated the stem of the guava, at these stages I am taking them to a finish adding the details on the outer skin of the guava and all the indents.

Then I added the lighter values for the open guava, using cadmium red light, and titanium white.  Then I added the background which was cerulean blue, naples yellow and titanium white.  I made sure to blur the edges of the guava where they needed to be, and also on the base.

Then I added information on the base, adding the darker and mid values using ivory black, cadmium orange and burnt sienna.  For the lighter areas I used burnt sienna, cadmium yellow light, and titanium white.  Taking each step to a finish and starting on the next, doing this allows me to finish the painting quicker and not have to worry about going back to an unfinished section.

This is the finished painting, I had lots of fun with this one and had lots of difficulty in concentrating with the strong sent it was giving off.  Thanks for stopping by everyone and seeing my work I hope you enjoyed this one!