"Strawberry"

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"Strawberry"

5 x 7 in 

Oil on Canvas Panel

Thank you everyone for your nice comments in regards to my girlfriends recovery.  She is doing well today which is great, they say the second day is the worst and so far she's doing really well.  Again with her blessings I was able to paint today and also take care of her.  It's nice having her home when I paint I can take mini breaks and attend to her, truthfully she's doing really well and has been able to sit on the couch and watch me paint!  Lets hope day three goes just as well.

Today I'm painting the dipped strawberry again but this time its all in one piece.  I went back to the bakery and got another of these delicious chocolate covered strawberry, it was really hard not biting into it but I did well not doing so.  The designs on the outside was also a challenge for me to paint, this was an area I was not looking forward to paint.  Like they say though you cannot get content when you paint, one has to push and challenge themselves constantly.  I also wanted to let everyone know this is my 100th alla prima study!  I'm excited and cannot believe i've done this much, i'm thrilled to do many many more!

I started with just the usual dry brush approach raw umber and no medium.  After the drawing was complete I stated the background first, reason I did so I can deal with my edges from the get go and also not worry about it in the end.  I used cerulean blue, naples yellow, and titanium white.

Then I added the base using yellow ochre, raw umber, cerulean blue, and titanium white.  After the background and base was completed I started on the body of the chocolate covered strawberry, I used ivory black, cerulean blue, and burnt sienna.  At this stage I'm just stating the big form and not worrying about the details in this stage.

Then I added the lighter values using titanium white, and cerulean blue.  I'm also stating at this point the frosted area of the white chocolate or the top portion of the strawberry.  Again I'm just doing the big form modeling now and statin the local colors first.  I used cerulean blue, ivory black, titanium white, and yellow ochre.

Then I went back in and stated the smaller forms or details hinting subtle values for details.  Then I stated the stem of the strawberry just starting with the darkest values to middle values, I used ivory black, deep viridian, cerulean blue, and yellow ochre pale.  Then I added the lighter values using yellow ochre pale, cadmium yellow, and titanium white.  This painting I thought from the beginning would not be as difficult as it was, the intricate designs within the chocolate created some hurdles for me.  I learned a lot with this painting and also was glad to enjoy another delicious dessert for finishing the painting.  Thanks again for stopping by and viewing hope you enjoyed! Bon appetite!