"Radicchio"

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"Radicchio"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I've always passed these guys in the grocery store and said I'll paint it next time, well the time came to finally paint it.  The unique shape and color they have is fun and challenging too paint, the way their veins flows along the leaves and also changes colors really made me excited too paint them. 

I started with the usual dry brush approach no mediums just a bit of raw umber on the brush.  I had to take the drawing a bit further than my usual because of the intricate veins in the leaves.  After the drawing was established I started with the darkest values using ivory black, yellow ochre, alizarin permanent,  and permanent rose.  I am taking each stage that I start to a close finish.

Then I moved onto the middle and lighter values, it got really tricky in this area because of the veins and the way the light was bouncing in an out of the surface.  I used alizarin permanent, permanent rose, cadmium red light, ivory black, and titanium white.  Then I started on the middle light area of the radicchio, this area had a lot of grey's and blue's, I used cerulean blue, titanium white, and ivory black.  It was fun doing this section, making the indentations was not as bad as I thought it would of been, I just concentrated on the values and hues and it became much easier.

Then I started on the leaf leaning on the radicchio, again starting with the darks first using the same mixture with the other darks in the beginning.  Then I moved to the middle and lighter values.

Then I added the lighter reflected lights in the leaf towards the bottom, it was challenging to paint something that looked transparent but was opaque at the same time.  I used cadmium orange, cadmium yellow light, ivory black, and cerulean blue.  After that was done I moved onto the background, using cerulean blue, titanium white, and naples yellow.  I used more naples yellow than cerulean to tie it in more with the radicchio, I also made sure to go around the radicchio and soften the edges so it wouldn't have a cardboard effect.

Then I added the base I used burt sienna, cadmium orange, cerulean blue and titanium white.  Then for the cast shadows I used burnt sienna, ivory black, cadmium orange, and the background color to bring it together even more.

This is the finished picture, it was a fun painting to make a little challenging to say the least for it being so intricate and painting it in only one day.  Thank you for stopping by and viewing, hope you enjoyed this one!