Two Green Apples and Dots

I had to spend a few moments telling the left side of my brain that the polka dots were NOT parallel to the edges of my picture.  Instead they were parallel to the fold between the table top and the background.  I guess "filling in the dots" is a left brain activity and not a drawing skill.

One Red Apple on Gray

This was painted in a workshop taught by Carol Marine.  The object was to paint a very quick study.  The beauty of painting quickly is that it forces you to abandon detail and see the larger shapes and values, and to loosen your brushstrokes.   Even with time constraints, I still managed to get some lovely reflected lights into the underside of the apple.  I like the colors, too. 

Pink and Yellow Apples

These are Pink Lady apples.  I love the color of these apples, they're red and yellow and green.  I simplified some of the streaky detail because it's hard to add light and dark pattern and not have it look like shadow.  The apple in the back IS in shadow so I darkened the yellow and reduced the contrast to push it back.  

Five Red Apples on Gray

I painted this in a workshop taught by Carol Marine.  Apples are one of her favorite subjects so I thought I'd give it a try. I chose delicious apples because they have a wonderful even red color.  When you paint  an apple that is multicolored red and green stripes it's hard to describe the red and green colors without suggesting planes of light and shadow. 

Apple Slices Backlit SOLD

This was a tasty greenish apple with touches of red, or maybe it was a reddish apple with touches of green. Although I painted quickly, the hot light turned it brown.  Next time I'll douse it with lemon juice to stay white.

Apple Fork Spoon

I've been painting, but I haven't been photographing my paintings lately, hence no blog posts.
I really like the shine of the fork and spoon and it was fun to play with the composition.  The 6" x 6" format is great for forcing you to simplify and strengthen the value pattern.

Green Apples Black Cup Silver Fork

I know you can't eat apples with a fork, but the fork looked more interesting than the knife.  I like the yellow and blue on the tines.  I also really like the reflected light on the apples.  A strong downlight gives a great bounce back on the underside of the apples. 

Apple Slices Pewter Bowl Purple Background

The pewter bowl is back again.  Here is the set up with a purple background.  I like how the light is positioned overhead so that the right side of the apple slice gets a slightly different amount of light than the left side.

Green Apple Slices Pewter Bowl Tablecloth

Another pewter bowl painting.  The light is from the right.  It hits the pewter bowl, bounces back and hits the back side of the closest apple.  It was fun to capture that reflected light.  I also worked on softening edges - for example the lip on the far side of the cup. The strong color dominance creates unity and harmony, but is enlivened by the touch of red in the reflection.