"Nectarines"

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"Nectarines"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

Hi everyone its been a while since I last posted, I've been adjusting to some changes and glad to finally get to a rhythm of painting.  It's important to me no matter how busy life gets to always keep painting, its something that I love and have a passion for.  I'm sure all of you guys can relate if you don't paint for a while you feel as if somethings wrong.  That being said it feels great painting these guys again, it was a little challenge painting these nectarines but I love that adrenaline of getting it done in one session.  The skin of these nectarines have so much subtle details within them, it's a great exercise trying to paint them.  The intense reds and yellows also make them attractive to paint, the hints of these colors spread through out the fruit makes them unique in their own way.  

The drawing stage is started out with a bit of raw umber on the brush and no mediums.  After the drawing stage is completed I started on the first nectarine on the left.  I started with the middle to darkest values first, using cad. red light, cad. orange, raw umber, and ivory black.  I start really thin with my application and only put more paint if I want it to be more opaque and stronger in chroma.

After my darks are taken to completion I them move onto the middle to lighter values.  Again starting thin and going thicker if needed.  The colors i'm using in this stage is cad. yellow light, cad. red light.  

Then I add the lightest lights or the highlights which is just titanium white.  I am constantly reapplying the same technique of starting really thin almost a dry brush approach and going thicker in the areas that need more of an opaque look.  This allows me to control the value range, the softness of each edge and also the thickness of the paints.  As you can see with the start of the second nectarine after I completed the first one, I state the colors and its values in the right areas and mold it from there.  I do not apply excessive paint that will make everything to muddy, I want to build up to the look I want with the paints.  

Then I keep molding the paints into the look and exact placement of each shape.  I am also stating smaller details or smaller shapes with thin paint and getting thicker if need be.  I dab in the correct area and soften the edge or make the edge sharper if they need to be.  It's all what the subject calls for and what your willing to paint, you just have to push yourself and stay true to the subject.  Painting this way also demands a lot of patience, its not easy to build up to this look in a quick manner.  

After the highlights are stated, I started on the cast shadows and middle values on the base.  I used ivory black, and raw umber for the main colors in this area.   

Then I moved onto the bottom of the base using the same palette including cadmium orange.  For the highlights I used titanium white, cad. yellow light and a bit of cerulean.

Then I stated the background after the base was completed.  I used cerulean blue, naples yellow and titanium white.  I softened some edges and kept others crisp when filling in the background.  It felt good getting one of these done again, I tried to go back to the stages I paint and how important it is to do it in that way.  I noticed when painting in this manner of taking each stage to a finish I was able to concentrate fully and paint it better rather than painting everything at once and not doing such a good job.  This method does not work for everyone, but for me it really helps and I enjoy the outcome of it.  Thanks for stopping by and viewing, I hope you enjoyed this one!