plate no. 0288
Still Life - Fruit
experienced study
Students would develop skills in chiaroscuro lighting, understanding warm and cool color temperature relationships, and rendering reflective surfaces and varied textures.
technical profile
palette complexity
4
brushwork visibility
3
value contrast
5
compositional simplicity
4
study guide
est. 15 hrsapproach — 8 steps
- step 01
Block in the dark background with burnt umber and raw umber mixture
- step 02
Establish the basic shapes of the bowl, fruits, and copper pot with mid-tones
- step 03
Map out the light source coming from the left, identifying highlight areas
- step 04
Build up the warm oranges and yellows of the peaches with careful form modeling
- step 05
Add the translucent quality of grapes using purple and green mixtures
- step 06
Develop the reflective surfaces of the copper pot and bowl with warm highlights
- step 07
Refine edges, making some soft and lost, others sharp and found
- step 08
Add final highlights and the most intense darks for maximum contrast
color palette
primary · burnt umber · cadmium orange · raw umber · titanium white
secondary · cadmium yellow · alizarin crimson · dioxazine purple · yellow ochre
Mix warm peach tones with orange, yellow, and white; create rich darks by combining burnt umber with small amounts of purple or crimson
techniques
- ·chiaroscuro lighting
- ·glazing for depth
- ·form modeling
- ·edge variation
- ·warm/cool color relationships
common pitfalls
- →Making all edges equally sharp
- →Using pure black for shadows
- →Overworking the highlights
- →Ignoring reflected light in shadow areas
materials
surface · stretched canvas or canvas board, toned with warm gray
required
- ·#2, #6, #10 flat brushes
- ·#4 round brush
- ·burnt umber oil paint
- ·cadmium orange oil paint
- ·titanium white oil paint
- ·raw umber oil paint
- ·stretched canvas 16x20
optional
- ·palette knife
- ·glazing medium
- ·#1 liner brush
- ·blending brush
A toned canvas helps establish the middle values more easily in this dramatic lighting scenario
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