"Grapes & Marble"

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"Grapes & Marble"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I first want to apologize for not posting on a regular basis to the hardcore daily painters, i've been beyond busy from vacation and trying to get back on schedule.  It felt good today to get back into the routine of doing an alla prima it's been to long and well needed, that's one of the reasons I don't like going on vacation for a long period of time it gets me out of my rhythm with painting.  I must say this painting was  bit daunting to do in one session especially for not painting for a while.  These green grapes are delicious to paint they have such beautiful deep yellow green colors, when contrasted with the marble it shines on its own.  The marble is a whole painting in its self its textures are fun to paint, going really thick in impasto for the highlights where to much fun.  I have to say painting flowers for such a long time has prepared me for anything when it comes to textures, although marble did throw a curve ball to the mix.

I also wanted let everyone know if you'r in Minneapolis on August 5 you should stop by at the Uptown Art Fair.  I will be doing a still life demo from 1-5 p.m. I'll be at the corner of Lake and Hennepin, hope to see you guys there!

I started with the usual dry brush approach for the drawing stage using no mediums and a bit of raw umber on the brush.  After the drawing is complete I stated the background using a cerulean blue, naples yellow and titanium white.  

Then I stated the general colors for all the grapes I make sure not to add the extreme of both values.  Then I start adding slowly the darker values and its specific forms, the colors used are viridian, ultramarine blue, cad. yellow light, and raw umber.

Then I add the highlights and their specific forms and also the extreme darks for some accents, once that area is complete I move onto the other set of grapes.  I repeat the same process as I did with the previous grapes.

Then I add the highlights and their specific forms and take those grapes to a close finish, I know when I add the marble I have to go back into the grapes and tweak certain areas for the finish.  I add the middle values for the marble area I'm not interested in details at this stage.  I use titanium white, ivory black and raw umber.

Then I added the darker and lighter values and its specific forms, the lighter values where so much fun to paint going really thick in impasto made it feel as if I was sculpting with the brush.  As stated before I didn't think painting marble would of been so challenging but I learned a lot from it.  When the marble is complete I go back into the grapes and just tweak certain areas and take the whole painting to a finish.  Glad to have finished and get back to the routine of painting these gems, looking forward to the next one.  Thanks for stopping by and viewing hope you enjoyed this one!