WHAT THE ARTIST USED

LOCAL COLOR IN THE LIGHT

You want to start with the easiest and most saturated colors first. Make sure you have the cleanest color on the lit side of the object. Don’t overthink your color mixing here. Go for a JOLT, especially in the star of the show area. Color quickly gets dulled, and if you dull it too much now you’re going to have rotten looking fruit in your painting.

One more thing, use thick paint in the lights but put the paint down in a flat manner. The bolder the shapes in a painting, the stronger the painting. When you apply paint flatly first without a bunch of color changes, impasto or ridges in the paint this starts your shapes off on the right foot. The shapes are simple, clear, one value and one color to start and painted flat and smooth with the brush at a parallel angle to the panel.

Supplies:

» Ampersand gessoboard museum series » Old Masters Maroger

» Silver Grand Prix hog hair bristle brushes » Jack Richeson palette knife

Oil Colors:

» cremnitz white » genuine naples yellow » yellow ochre » cadmium lemon » cadmium yellow deep » cadmium red light » avignon orange » alizarin crimson » ultramarine blue » burnt umber

» raw umber

» ivory black

BACKGROUND AND SNEAKY SHADOW SHAPES

Whatever my chosen background color and value are, I will now mix that up and place it flatly and clearly. I put this first around my main objects because that’s where I need to see the value relationship the most.

After I get my objects on the canvas, I look for specific shadow shapes still using my burnt umber. I just apply the paint a little thicker and flatter for a darker value. The shadow shapes should describe the convexity of the forms and be consistent in ratio throughout the painting. After all the prior four steps are completed, I will then wipe out any umber away from the lights so as not to muddy them up later. Now I can start to paint in local color and light.