Forelle Pear

Sold

"Forelle Pear"

5 x 7 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I haven't painted pears in a while and thought it was time to re visit these beauties. I also wanted to go back on how I painted pears when I first started to do alla prima paintings a couple years ago. It's minimal amount of paint on the brush kind of like drawing with a pencil, you do not want to put a dark hard line with the initial mark. This painting is an exploration of my technique old and new.

I started with a thin application of raw umber for the drawing stage.  I am not worried about details just the placement of major shapes and the lineation of shadow shapes. Then I painted the background in. I usually like to paint this area first, this allows me to now worry about it when I am painting the main object in the painting.

Once the background was filled in I then painted in the wood, I applied a thin amount of paint to cover the base. I think of it as how one would when drawing with a pencil. I do not paint in the darkest darks or lights lights, just an in between value to give form to the object. Then I paint in the darkest values. I still have not applied any lighter values just concentrating on the middle to darker values.

Once the darks are painted I then start to paint in the middle to lighter values. Once the base is at a level I am satisfied with I move onto the pear. The initial stage of painting the pear I apply a thin layer of paint in the shadows, I do the same with the lights. In this stage I am only concentrating on big form modeling, how light wraps around the form. I mesh the lights into the darks to make the form turn, softening edges to show more of the turn. I am not worried about details at this stage just worried on applying a thin layer of paint and making the form turn with generalized colors.

Once big form modeling is working I then start to work on middle to darker values. As I mentioned before I am applying the paints very thin, this allows me to control values the same way one would control a mark with a pencil. I like to build into my darks as well into the lights.  This approach is time consuming but gives you control on how much subtle values shifts you're needing.

Hope you enjoyed this painting, thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

"Forelle Pears"

Click here to purchase this painting at my Etsy store

"Forelle Pears"

5 x 7 in 

Oil on Canvas Panel

These pears are neat looking and their named Forelle, I want to know how they came up with that name?  A lot of these fruits I've painted have some odd names to them and I've always wondered how do they go by naming them, interesting to say the least.  The coloring on their skin is really nice the way it goes from light green to yellow and red, a beautiful array of colors going from one to the other.  I also thought it'll be nice to pair it up with the red cloth that i've painted before, for some reason I think it compliments these pears pretty well.  Last but not least the wooden board is peeking out in the corner reminding us that its still here, I like to say its been nice to not paint it for a while but I do miss it at times.  Thank for stopping by and viewing hope you enjoyed it! 

  

'Reversed Pear"

Sold

"Reversed Pear"

6 x 6 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I wanted to do another version of these pears this time having one reversed with the other facing the viewer.  The skin of the pears have so much different textures to them, its neat trying to decipher it and translate it onto a painting.  Their colors are also enjoyable to paint they have such a subtle transition from one color to another, from yellows to greens and to even burnt umbers its fun painting those blends.  

I wanted to apologize for being away for so long without posting anything, the day after posting "Grandfather" I got into a really bad bicycle accident.  I went over a curb and the front tire completely came out of my bike, I landed on the road hands first then hitting my ribs pretty bad.  I was really lucky I didn't break anything I did scrape up my hands and feet pretty bad, my ribs have given me the worst pain out of it all.  That accident occurred on a Tuesday and I left out of town on Wednesday until yesterday, so you can imagine how much i've been wanting to paint.  I'm recovering well from the accident my ribs  and left hand are still pretty sore, but I do feel better each day.  I cannot express how happy I am today to finally get back into painting, I tried after the accident on Tuesday to paint but I was in to much paint to do so.  Now I truly I mean it its time to get back to the painting easel and start producing, its been to long.  

I started with a dry brush approach for the drawing stage using a bit of raw umber on the brush.  After the drawing is completed I stated the background using cerulean blue, naples yellow and titanium white.

I then started on the first pear stating the general colors first then turning the form with their values, at this stage I'm not concerned in adding the darkest and lightest values just a middle value of the overall colors.  The colors I used in the general stage are viridian, cad.yellow light, yellow ochre, and raw umber.   Once thats complete I state the darkest values with their specific forms, I can really start going into the fine details at this stage with the darks.  Having the general stage done first allows me to go into the darks much easier and handle details with more precision.  The additional colors I used for this stage is cerulean blue and burnt umber.  

Once the darker values are completed I started on the lighter values including the highlights, the only additional color I used were titanium white.  I repeated the same process with the second pear once the first pear was completed, first stating general colors and turning the form with their values.

I also use the same colors as I did with other pear.  The first picture shows the darkest values being painted in, the second picture shows the lighter values after the darker values were completed.  You can also see that I started to hint where the cast shadows will be placed, this allows me to judge the values of the base with the pears and also gives a stationary look to the pears.

Once the pears are completed I start on the wooden base, I do the exact process as I did with the pears state the general colors first not worrying about the darkest and lightest values.  Then I stated the darker values with their specific forms, the colors I used were cerulean blue, burnt umber, raw umber, titanium white, cad. orange, and naphthol red.  

After the darks were completed I stated the lighter values with their specific forms and took the painting to a finish.  As stated before I'm really happy to be back painting there's nothing like it, its truly what I was meant to do.  Thank you for stopping by and viewing, I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did!

"Leaning Pear"

Sold

"Leaning Pear"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

Walking along the grocery store today pears stood out to me more than usual, I guess because of their textures I was intrigued to paint them again.  They remind me of painting marble the way you have to be subtle with each tone and stroke.  Pears are difficult in their own right to paint, they have so much subtle textures that are challenging to control.  Needless to say its good practice to paint them.  I also decided to bring back the wooden board rather than paint then marble top.  It's been a while since i've painted this board painting the grains and its textures was fun for the most part.

I started with the usual dry brush approach using no mediums and a bit of raw umber.  I stated the background first once the drawing was complete, the colors I used were cerulean blue, naples yellow and titanium white.

I then started on the first pair by just stating general colors first, I'm not concerned with the lightest and darkest values at this stage just turning the form with the overall colors.  I also keep the paints fairly thin at this stage, it's easier to build up paint on top once the bottom layer is thin.  Then I added the darker values with their specific forms.  The colors I used were burnt sienna, yellow ochre, viridian, cad.yellow light, raw umber and ivory black.

Then I stated the lighter values with their specific forms, I also added a bit of highlights with titanium white.  Once the first pear is complete I started on the second pear by repeating the same process.  I also use the same colors except burnt sienna.

After the big form modeling is complete with middle values, I start with the darker values with their specific forms.  Once that stage is complete I start with the lighter values and their specific forms.  

Once the pears are complete I started on the wooden board, again just stating the general colors first and modeling the form.  Then I added the darker values with their specific forms.

I then added the lighter values with their specific forms, the colors I used for the board were burnt sienna, cad. orange, raw umber, cerulean, titanium white, and ivory black.  It was nice to paint these guys again, reminds me of my older alla prima's I used to paint.  Never gets old painting these fruits, and also eating them afterwards.  Thanks for stopping by and viewing, hope you enjoyed!