Dark Delicious
“Dark Delicious”
6″ X 6″ Oil on Raymar Canvas board
When teaching beginning art classes to serious students I like to have what I call “The Apple Class.” It is the basic exercise for learning to make an object look round or three dimensional and it is also a good exercise for using red.
When I paint, I like to have at the least a double primary pallet; using two reds, two yellows and two blues. (A triple primary pallet is even better.)
For the reds in this apple I used only cadmium red light and alizarian crimson. These are my most basic red colors that I don’t like being without.
Since I am just getting back into painting after a long break, I decided to go back to my basic apple class to renew what I know about color. The darker parts of the apple were made by mixing alizarian crimson with Ivory black.
I set the apple on a wooden plaque and put two small black canvas boards behind it and painted it from life. Painting from life is an exercise in observation because every time you look at your subject, it has changed or you see it differently. You are actually seeing it with two eyes and there are two different perspectives involved.
In painting something from life, there comes a time when you realize that it is the image on the canvas that is important, not the object you are looking at. My job is to represent it the best way I can.
Below is a picture of the set up used.
Beautiful apple! I found your blog while searching around for info for painting on a black background. I have red pears and thought I’d do a still life. I am new to oils, usually paint watercolors but took a long break from painting and switched mediums to get out of a block!
I want to do something basic since my first painting threw me for a loop.
I like the idea of setting it up w/boards in the background-so simple, I can’t believe I had to be told!
Thanks for the inspiration….