"Mini Heirloom"

Click here to purchase this painting at my Etsy shop

"Mini Heirloom"

6 x 6 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

We were at the store today getting ingredients for a baby shower my girlfriend is throwing, she's cooking a whole lots of cupcakes and I'm gonna try to steal some before she takes them.  While we were at the store I saw this adorable little heirloom tomato and automatically wanted to paint it.  I was gonna paint in my kitchen and do the natural light method again but she's cooking away all day with her sister.  Instead I decided to paint in our room where the natural light is not to bad.  I really do enjoy painting in natural light, there's so much more colors and subtle tones that one can't get through pictures.  

I started with the usual dry brush approach using a bit of raw umber on the brush.  Once the drawing is complete I stated the local colors of the heirloom, at this stage I'm not concerned with stating the lightest and darkest values.  The colors I used for this stage were cad.red light, naphthol red, cad.yellow light, and viridian.

Then I stated the background and wooden base to give more of a whole feel to the initial phase of the painting.  The colors I used were cerulean blue, naples yellow, titanium white, burnt sienna, and raw umber.  Then I stated the middle to darker values with their specific forms.  I like to slow down in these later stages to really conform the shape and get the subtle value shifts, it's almost impossible to get those subtle information when your in a hurry to finish.

Then I state the lighter values with their specific forms and take the heirloom to a finish.  Then I start on the wooden base and state the darker values with their specific forms.  The colors I use is ultramarine blue and raw umber.

Then I stated the lighter values with their specific forms and took the base to a finish.  I also added more naples yellow and yellow ochre to the background, and also brought the value down.  I really enjoyed the process of creating this painting, painting from life is something one has to do in order to get an intimate feel of its subject.  One has to see its true colors and how light really wraps around the form.  Pictures are not bad for reference use, but it does limit the information one can get from life.  Thanks for stopping by and viewing, hope you guys enjoyed this one.

Picture of the finished painting next to the model.  I'm getting used to painting more on my pochade box, I just have to get used to painting sitting down.

"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!