"Bagged Cherries"

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"Bagged Cherries"

10 x 8 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

This painting was so much fun to do, its completely different than what I would do.  Painting a clear bag is something that seems to intimidating to paint, it's so complex in many ways.  I decided to just go at it with this painting and see what I can do and push myself out of my comfort zone.  Painting these cherries where so much fun, with this painting I was really able to show more of the beautiful colors these rainier cherries have.  I have to say that was the funnest part of the painting, painting so many cherries at once was a bit much to do but a lot of fun and glad I did so.  Not to say the other areas weren't fun, its just the cherries are in their own level.

I started with the usual dry brush approach using no mediums and just a bit of raw umber.  Then I started on the cherries all at once just stating the general colors, I'm not stating any of the darker and lighter tones yet.

Then I start stating the middle to darker values not going to dark yet I wanna slowly get to the real darks, this way I'm able to control the values from light to dark.  The second picture shows that I stated the darker values and also added the stem to the cherries, I've also added the cast shadow to the base to have a point to work on when I start on it later.

Then I state the lighter values and their specific forms, at this stage I'm able to take the cherries to a finish.  Then I start on the wooden base by adding the general colors and also the fall of light.

Then I add the darker values and their specific values, I do the same with the lighter values and take the cutting board to a finish.  After the cutting board is complete I then fill in the background, since I'm painting a see through bag I can just cover the whole background at this stage.

Then I start adding some of the middle values to give the impression of the bag, then I add highlights and the middle values.  Painting this bag was something I've never done before especially in one sitting, it was a challenge that I'm glad I did.  Painting a clear bag has so many obstacles to it but I found if you keep it simple then its not to complicated.  When painting the bag I made sure to soften the edges around the cherries to push some of them further away.  I had a lot of fun painting this one a bit different than what I usually do, great to get out of my comfort zone and see what I can do.  Thanks for stopping by and viewing, hope you enjoyed!