Red Pepper on Red

This red pepper is posed against a red background so the whole painting is a painting in red hues with variations in saturation and value.  All the reds are contrasted nicely by just a bit of green in the stem.  On my Etsy store

Red Peppers on Yellow Green

Both the colors of the peppers and of the tabletop are very saturated, but there is a larger area of tabletop, which helps to establish dominance.  I like the repeated pepper shapes, the repeated horizontals, and the conflict of the vertical knife.  It creates an interesting tension. 

Small Yellow and Red Peppers on a Green Plate

This is my favorite still life plate.  It's small enough to fit just a few orange slices or these small sweet peppers.  It also has lovely planes that pick up light and shadow.  Plus it gives me opportunity to practice drawing in perspective. 

Red Pepper on Red

The red and yellow and orange peppers are going into dinner tonight, so this is the last until I buy some more.  This painting is nearly  monochromatic. I like the value range- mostly middle value with a small amount of dark and just a touch of light.

Three Peppers on Dots

Another painting of colorful peppers.  I enjoy the colors and values of the red pepper - cool and magenta away from the light, warm and orangey on the lit side. 

Red and Yellow Peppers on Dots

These peppers are painted on a very smooth Ampersand Gessoboard panel that reveals a lot of texture from the brushstrokes. As well, paint can be easily wiped off the board leaving an almost white surface.  This means that, rather than piling on a thick layer of opqaue white paint mixture to make lights and highlights, I can work with thinner and more transparent layers of light colors.  This works for me since I use transparent hansa, azo and pyrrol reds and yellows instead of opaque cadmium reds and yellows.

Red Pepper on Black

I bought a bag of yellow and red peppers last week.  I managed to paint this red pepper before it went into last night's dinner.  I like the strong shadows created by the top light.  This composition reinforces my opinion that a limited palette makes a better painting. 

Red Pepper Pointing Left

They went thataway.   I like the luscious color of this pepper.  Because the pepper is toplit, both the cast shadow and light table top are reflected back up on the bottom of the pepper.  It gives a feeling of volume.

Red Pepper on Black and White SOLD

I've worked on this painting several times.  It's really a very simple painting but I just couldn't get it right.  I finally decided to completely neutralize the background - I've made it black and white and shades of gray. That contrast made the red pepper much more dramatic and important.  The background was originally reddish - I like how the red tone breaks through the newly painted whites and grays in several places.