Apples

9 x 5 Oil on Canvas Board



This is one of my more recent paintings, completed in late November or early December (I can't really remember).  My wife buys a lot of apples for our children, and these were the last two in the bag.  I think they are crab apples, but don't hold me to that.  I decided to paint them for two reasons.  First, I liked the color variation.  They were not just red.  In some places they almost had a tan color.  Second, I thought the shere-like shape of the apply would really help me work on my abilty to portray roundness and three dimensions.  

To add a little variety (and difficulty) to the painting, I found an old board in my garagage and cut a chunck off the end.  I really liked the way the grain popped out and thought it would add a good element to the painting. 

To start I drew the picture using only a little raw umber.  From there I added the background and the base.  The background is cereluen (spelled wrong) blue, naples yellow, and zinc white.  The base is a red hue, a touch of burnt umber, and zine white.  There is a bit of a shadow on the picutre, so the base is difficult to see.  But I tried to give a sense of depth by lighting the color as I went toward the horizon line. 

Next I added the apples, starting with the one in the front.  I basically started with the dark part of the apply and painted my way up, almost painting in a clockwise motion to move from dark to light.  The last thing I added was the stem.  The highlights are basically pure zinc white over a touch of red and, in most places, the pure white of the canvas.  Once the first apple was complete I added the second using the same method.

I painted the wood board last.  The most difficult part, and the one that took me longer than any other section of the painting, was the cut section of the board.  I really struggled with the texture of the wood and trying to portray the cut of the wood.  Once complete, I added the dark side of the wood, using titanium black, zinc white, and burnt siena to get the gray like color.  I added the grain using straight burnt siena.  Finally I added the lighted top section and the cast shadows using the same color mix, but a lot more white where appropriate. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the painting.