"Strawberries Aligned"

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"Strawberries Aligned"

5 x 7 in 

Oil on Canvas Panel

I wanted to continue with the play of composition with these strawberries, I enjoy painting their deep reds and even more eating them.  It's fun playing around with subject you paint and try to compose them differently each time, you never know what you'll end up with unless you just try.  The weather finally came around it started to drop as of yesterday to the teens, I have to admit I do miss the 50 degrees we had a couple days ago.  It is nice though to stay indoors and paint when its this cold, hopefully we won't see negative 40 degrees any time soon it truly is unbearable.

I wanted to let everyone know that lives in Minneapolis I'll be giving a live painting demo at the Dick Blick in Edina on Feb. 9th from 12-3 pm.  Come out and heckle me would love to meet you guys.

I also found out my oil painting class at the Bloomington Art Center will be on for this session, I'm extremely excited to teach it along with figure drawing and see the talent that comes out of there.  You guys can still sign up here's the link.

Sign up for "Pink Roses"Alla Prima online lesson, check out the trailer above.

I started with the usual dry brush approach using a bit of raw umber on the brush and no mediums.  After the drawing is complete I laid in a general color for the strawberries and also stated the background.  I usually do not use any mediums with these smaller alla prima's, i've gotten used to not using any and just using the paints straight out of the tube.

Then I stated the darker values and their specific forms and did the same with the lighter values and highlights.

After the strawberries were complete I then started on the leaves and started with a general color for the drawing in stage.  In this stage I am just drawing in the shapes and trying to place them in the right areas.  Once the shapes are correct I then state the darker values and their specific forms.

Then I state the lighter values and their specific forms.  Once the strawberries are completed I then move onto the base and add the general colors with some details already filled in.

I then go back and add the finishing touches on the strawberries and base, doing this brings the whole painting to a finish.  I noticed with this painting I did not apply my usual big and small form modeling and could see the difference.  It's something that is really important with my paintings and can tell right away if I forgot to implement it.  I do like the results though and still kept in mind on how the form turns with the light.  There is a difference though when you go through the process and actually do it step by step rather than jumping ahead and putting in all the information at once.  I hope you guys enjoyed this one, thanks for stopping by.