Thursday, August 12, 2010

"Heirloom Tomato"

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"Heirloom Tomato"
8 x 10 in
Oil on Canvas Panel
This is a painting that a client ordered from me it has two other paintings that go along with it but for now I'll just show this one, I'll show the other one soon.  This is actually the third time I've painted this tomato and every time I always find new challenges and ways to paint them.
I started with the usual dry brush approach using no mediums just a bit of raw umber on the brush, then I stated the background first using cerulean blue, naples yellow, and titanium white.
Then I added the base starting from the darkest values then moving towards the lighter areas of the base, I used ivory black, cadmium orange, cadmium red light, burnt sienna, cerulean blue, and titanium white.
Then I started with the pit of the tomato using viridian, cadmium yellow light, cobalt blue, ivory black, and naples yellow.  Then I started on the darkest values of the tomato using ivory black, permanent rose, cadmium red, cadmium red light, cadmium orange, and cadmium yellow light.  You can see I'm going from darker values to lighter ones slowly moving towards the lights in each area.
Then I concentrate on the middle values that are usually the yellows in this painting using cadmium yellow light, viridian, cadmium orange, and titanium white.  You can see that I'm concentrating on each section and taking it to the closest finish I can before moving onto the next section, the reason I say closest is because when you add other sections it can change the chroma and value of the one you just painted that's why its good to leave some room to change if need be.
This is the finished picture again as stated before these tomato's are fun too paint and challenging each time but a great learning experience.  Thanks for stopping by and viewing hope you enjoyed!

2 comments:

Judy P. said...

This tomato has a modern art feel to it, Jonathan, with the hills and valleys reminding me of a Georgia O'Keefe.
I think I've been reading too many art history books lately- but I want you to know I like your painting!

SEILER said...

Wow, there's so much to look at here, some serious stuff happening here with color!