Apple in Spotlight

5x7 Oil on Canvas Board

Sorry for the poor quality of the photo, I took it on my phone's camera. I finished this painting over two sittings on Wednesday and Thrusday.  I have been experimenting a little with darker pictures.  The darker background really makes the focal point jump out. With the last dark painting (lemon) I started with the darker areas and worked forward. This one I approached a little different.  After getting a general outline of where everything would go, I painted the darkest area of the board under the apple at the bottom of the canvas, just to orient myself and set the tone for the painting.  Then I began working on the apple, working from dark to light, and adding the stem last.  Once the apple was complete, I added the darkest darks in the upper right-hand corner with straight Ivory Black, then moved to the darkest area of the wood with burnt siena and ivory black.  From there, I just slowly worked my way toward the light, adding the texture of the wook block last.  Once all the color was added, I went back and darked the apple a bit, to make it sit better in the picture.  Hope you like it.