"Chestnut Crab Apples"

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"Chestnut Crab Apples"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

Crab apples are neat looking to me they seem to be a mini version of an apple.  Their textures are not shiny and smooth as a regular apple, but do have to overall shape to them.  What also attracted me to paint these guys where their stems, I found for the majority of them to have so much character.  They have a gestural feel to them which to I really enjoy painting, although the stem is not the majority part of this painting it does have a secondary role to it.  Textures to me are important in a painting they definitely make the object you'r painting come to life.  To understand how to paint texture is extremely important in order to advance as a painter.
I also wanted to mention that a good friend of mine told me about her having issues leaving comments on my blog.  She gave me instructions on how to fix it which I did and it should be working now with no problems.  I apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for continuing to visit my blog! 

I started with the drawing stage which unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of, but I used a bit of raw umber on the brush and no mediums.  After the drawing is complete I stated the background and the general colors of the crab apples.  The colors I used for the background were cobalt blue, naples yellow and titanium white.  For the crab apples I used naples yellow, and cad.red light.  Then I start on the first crab apple by concentrating on turning the form or big form modeling, not worrying about details just how the light wraps around the form.  The colors I used in this stage were raw umber, cad.yellow light and cad.red light.

Then I went back into the darker values and stated their specific forms, in order for that to work the big form has to be correct.  I did the same with the lighter values, stating their specific forms to work with the surrounding values.  When done without the first crab apple I repeated the same process with the second one.  I also stated the cast shadows which are important since the darkest values affect the overall tone of the crab apple.

Then I stated the lighter values with their specific forms and took the second crab apple to a finish.  As you can see with previous pictures I've begun to state the stems, just giving a hint of where they'll be placed.  After the second crab apple is complete I start on the third one and repeat the process.  I also use the same colors as I did with the first crab apple.

Once the third crab apple is complete I state the overall color of the wooden base and after I start on the darker values with their specific forms.  The colors I used in this stage were raw umber, ivory black, and cad. orange.  

Then I stated the lighter values with their specific forms by using titanium white, cobalt blue, naples yellow and burnt sienna.  In order for the lighter values to have worked with the overall tone in the wooden base the big form modeling had to be correct.  In order for the details or small form modeling to work the big form modeling has to be correct.  Essentially your big form modeling is setting the stage for the finer details, its imperative to get this stage right for the small form modeling to work.  When painting intricate details such as these crab apples it can be challenging to get the big and small form modeling right, it may take a while which is just fine as long as you understand the process and know that it works.  I hope you learned and enjoyed this one, thanks for stopping by.