"Star Fruit"

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"Star Fruit"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Belgium Linen Panel

I started with a dry brush approach, I used burnt umber and no medium.

Then I just filled in the middle tone darks, not going too dark.

Then I added the local colors to the star fruit, not blending everything to perfection at this stage.  I am just stating the correct colors in their correct placements.

Then I added the background and went in the edges of the star fruit to push some areas back and bring some forward.

I then started to add details to the wood, which also gives it some movement in a subtle way.

This is the finished painting, after finishing the wood, I went back into the star fruits and added the subtle shifts of tones with the darks.  I also added little details on the light areas of the star fruit.  This painting was fun to do I have always wanted to do a painting of star fruits for some time now.  My mother has a lot of these guys in her backyard laying around, and they are really delicious to drink when they are squeezed into juice form.  I hope you had fun and enjoyed this one!

"Grapes 3"

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"Grapes 3"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I started with a dry brush with no mediums, I do all these small painting with no mediums.

Then I stated the darks, trying to see the value of the painting first.

Then I put the dead coloring of the grapes to mesh in with the darks and make the form turn.

I then put the dead coloring of the background and the base, not worrying about taking the painting to perfection in these early stages you just want to put the colors in their correct placements.

I then went back into the grapes and started work with the edges and also put more of the smaller information which gives each of the grapes their own character.  After I did that I went in and filled in the blacks, it really brought the painting together.  I usually do not wait this long to state the real darks but I knew if I did in the beginning the paint would of started to sink in.

This is the finished painting, I went into each grapes and played with lights and darks.  I also meshed the background with the foreground bringing that relationship closer.  This is the last grape painting for me, it was fun to do these serious of paintings, but I need a break from these guys they are pretty hard to paint in such a short period of time.  I have learned a lot from them and probably will paint them soon.  For now I hope you enjoyed these!

"Grapes 2"

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"Grapes 2"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I started again with a dry brush approach with no medium.

After getting the drawing where I wanted it to be I went straight into the grapes starting from the darks and applying the correct hue and value.  I am not worrying about blending everything to perfection now, I'm just stating the main notes and having the right feel for it in the beginning.

I then moved into the base and background, just stating the dead colors as a base then I will work on top of that later.

I went back into the grapes adding the darkest darks to bring out the correct values.

Then I started adding the reds that are stated within the grapes, worked back and forth with the darks and the reds.

This is the finished painting, I kept going back and forth with the lights and darks to get the gradual blend.  It was a little tricky to bring out the colors within the grapes sense they are so subtle, I also made sure that I handled my edges according to what I wanted to push back and pull forward.  I had a lot of fun painting this one, grapes are challenging but I have learned so much just painting within them.  I hope you enjoyed this one!

"Grapes"

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"Grapes"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Belgium Linen Panel

I started with a dry brush again not using any medium, these grapes are intricate to draw you have to get the correct shapes in the beginning.

I then put a mid tone value and chroma with the grapes and stem.  At this point I am going quick all over just dabbing the correct chroma and value.

I then filled in the background which is a neutral tone, after filling the background I went back into the grapes and blended the edges with the background.  In certain areas I blurred the edges more than others, it's a tricky thing to do without going to far.

After taking the edges where I wanted them to go, I then started to fill in the blacks which I had to at this stage because it was greater in certain areas.

This is the finished painting, after filling in the blacks I started to crisp certain edges and putting different hues and chromas around.  This painting was a lot of fun to do, I wanted to play with the cool blue lighting and inner colors with these grapes.  I hope you enjoyed this one!

"Pink Roses 2"

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"Pink Roses 2"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I forgot to take a picture of the drawing before painting it, I got too excited and went straight into the painting.  I drew the placements of the roses but not getting too detailed with the pedals.

Then I filled in the leaves which are the darkest darks of the painting and then went to the background which is a mid tone value.  Again not going to smooth with the application at first just dabbing the right chroma and value on the right areas.

Then I went into the roses going from light too dark, with a mid tone to judge my value and chroma.

After I established the turning of the form with the right chroma and value I went into smaller shapes.  This is where you have to have the right shape from the beginning so the smaller shapes will fall into place.

This is the finished painting, I went back into the leaves and established a darker value and kept the background leaves and roses blurry.  I crisped the edges in the middle ground  and foreground to play with the illusion of coming forward and receding.  I also played with the hue with the roses getting them as close as possible to the real ones.  This painting was a lot of fun to do, playing with the cool colors and edges was a fun task.  I hope you enjoyed this one!

"Pink Roses"

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"Pink Roses"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I started this painting with a dry brush approach as I usually do, I went pretty intricate with the drawing since the roses have so much geometric shapes within them.

I then filled in the background first, I wanted it to dry faster before I put the second coat on.  I went pretty loose and thin not worrying about getting things perfectly flat and smooth.

Then I started adding the leaves I am kind of working from dark to light, I first stated the darkest darks which is the background, now I'm stating the mid darks which are the leaves.  Again not getting it detailed at first just dabbing the color in the right place and molding it from there.

Then I start moving into the lighter mid tones and highlights.  I approach the roses in a different manner this time, instead of dabbing different chroma values here and there and making it work, I essentially did a fall of light with the roses.  Meaning I went from mid value pink chroma to the lightest value and made those gradual blends, not worrying about every individual leaf.  Having this rough information in first is my blue print and I have a better understanding where to take my painting, essentially this is my gesture drawing if I were doing a long figure drawing pose.  If the gesture is not working in the beginning then the life of the pose is not gonna work overall.

I then started adding more details to the roses and pushing the values where they needed to be pushed.

This is the finished painting, after adding more detail to the roses I went back to the background by this time it has dried enough for me to add a second coat without picking up the first coat.  After filling in the background I refined the leaf's and kept playing with the chroma's.  I had a lot of fun painting these flowers, It was a nice break from painting so many vegetables and fruits.  I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did!

"Green Grapes"

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"Green Grapes"

9 x 12 in

Oil on Masonite Board

I started with a dry brush, this was a little more intricate to draw out so I could not just state some areas and move on.  I had to get a lot of information down in the drawing stage in order to have the shapes in the right areas.

I went straight into the grapes, going from dark to light.  I dabbed the colors where they needed to go I did not worry about rendering it to perfection, just state the overall information to see if everything is working in the beginning stages before you commit yourself completely to the rendering.

After I was satisfied with the grapes I moved onto the wood board it was laying on.  I wanted to get a general feel of it, again not worrying about the smaller shapes or details.  I painted the wood board the same way I did with the grapes from dark to light.

The blues in the background are not visible in this picture, I did add color to the background and the table the wood was laying on.  It was tricky painting on masonite I haven't painted on it for a while, it's a slippery surface in general, it doesn't have the grooves as canvas would.

This is the finished painting, I went back into the grapes and added more details with the shift of hues of yellows and greens.  I also went into the wood and added more details to it, the reason I did that is to differentiate the table from the wood.  It was a fun painting to make, to go back into masonite and enjoy the process was better than I thought.  I hope you enjoyed this one!

"Butternut Squash"

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"Butternut Squash"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I started with just a dry brush, again I use no mediums for these small paintings.  This is a rough drawing it serves just for placement and measurements.

I filled in the squash first because I knew the background was gonna be dark, I formed the big forms first making it turn with the light.  I did not go too dark, its tricky painting in this way without putting the darkest darks first because its harder to judge the true value and chroma.

This is the finished painting, I know I know I skipped a lot of steps from the previous pic to this one.  I thought I took more pics but apparently I did not, what I basically did after filling in the background and base is go back into the squash and state the smaller shapes.  In the final touches I added the highlights and also put some more indentations to make it feel more authentic.  I hope you enjoyed!

"Red Anjou Pears"

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"Red Anjou Pears"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I start the painting with a dry brush approach, you can see that using this method I am able to go thick and thin with the lines as if I was drawing with a pencil.

I went into the pears first not the background because I wanted to state the dead coloring first.  You can see from this pic how I lay the first stages of the painting down, it looks sloppy but it's quickly hinting where the main colors will be.  I'm constantly making sure not to use too much paint or it'll get muddy pretty quick.

After I have hinted the main colors, I start forming the shapes with their correct values and hues.  I went pretty far in this stage I was having fun putting those indentations on the pears, oh well.

I then filled in the background and base, after stating those I went back into the pears and its edges.  Edges are so important you have to know when to push it back to the background and where to put the hard edges.  They are a lot of fun to do as well but a bit tricky, you can see with the horizon line I usually blur it more than it needs to be but I do it so the main objects in the middle ground can catch your eye.

This is the finished painting, after pushing the edges to where I wanted them too be I went back into the pear.  I stated more of the smaller shapes within the pears and emphasized the highlights.  I hope you enjoyed this one, take care!