"Minneola"

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"Minneola"

7 x 5 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

This neat fruit is called Minneola, I didn't know them until I went to the grocery store and it stuck out like a sore thumb.  I asked the gentlemen working at the store and he gave me all the information about them.  Minneola's are from Orlando, FL and named after the city Minneola, Florida.  It was released to the public in 1931 by the USDA.  This fruit is actually a hybrid of a tangerine and a grapefruit or pomelo.  They are so unique in appearance, very rich and deep colors.  It was a no brainer when I saw them that I wanted to paint them.  I wanted to keep the painting simple to frame this beautiful and unique fruit, its a homage in a way to these guys.  This is what I love about these alla prima's, I get to find new fruits and vegetables that I never knew of.

I started off with just raw umber for the underpainting and rendered all the middle values leaving only the white of the canvas reserved for the highlights.  After the underpainting is complete I start right away with the top section of the Minneola, I don't want to wait too long because the raw umber is a fast dryer.  I start with the darker to middle values and move onto the lighter values, I want to state the local colors first and get detailed after that.  Its good to have an underpainting to give you direction when applying different values of color.  The colors I start using is cad. orange, naphthal red, ultramarine blue, burnt umber, and cad. yellow.

After the middle values are working with the darks and lighter values I start concentrating on the highlights.  With the highlights I just use titanium white, I'm also making sure the form is turning with the light.  It's important to understand this concept in order to realistically render an object no matter what it is.  Then I start on the body of the Minneola, again starting with the darker values and moving towards the light.  This beginning approach lets me state the local colors and make sure the form is turning.  I use the same colors as I did with the last section.

Once the general colors are stated and the form is turning I go back to the shadows and take them to a finish.  I also start putting some indents in the middle values to take them to a finish.  While doing this I see I can start applying lighter values or the highlights with just a bit of titanium white.  When doing this it starts to take the entire Minneola to a finish.  I start to state a bit of the cast shadows to give the bottom part some form, I used ultramarine blue and burnt umber.  

After the Minneola is completed I added the background and base using cerulean blue, naples yellow, and titanium white.  Then for the base I used burnt sienna, cerulean blue, naples yellow, and yellow ochre.  This painting is simple in composition, I wanted to do that to just concentrate on the Minneola.  Looking at its details when painting it I learned so much from this neat fruit, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.  Thanks for stopping by and viewing!