Summer 2019 Acrylic Class

Project: Apple Turnover Revised - Week 4

I started out the last class by correcting things that were bothering me. When I am sitting here writing the blog posts, I see things in my own painting I don't like, it isn't easy to talk and paint at the same time, but rather than correcting them at home I correct them in class so my students can see that no one died and yes, you can just paint over things you don't like about your painting and the art police won't come take you away.

I say that in jest but often times I find that beginners, in any medium, think that every stroke has to be perfect and it is isn't your painting and world are doomed. Far from the truth, every artist makes changes when things aren't working out the way they hoped because what you see in your head isn't always what ends up on the canvas so we need to make changes.

The thing that bothered me most was I hadn't made the basked and apples big enough for the size of the canvas. I had a lot of doing nothing negative space (anything that isn't the basket or apples) that was just unappealing to the eye. So I needed to make the basked bigger first using the same colors I used before (see previous posts). I expanded the size of the basket and had to redo some of the handle.

Next, I made some of the apples, particularly the ones on the table, larger.

 I made the front green apple larger and more in front of the red one but it looks like I still need to shape the red one a bit bit I am happier with my design now though I am still going to add some things at the end to break up those large areas of negative space.

Next I got to work on the detail of the basket. Be sure that you have your reference photo in front of you so you can check the shapes and directions of the  weave of the reeds of the basket. Look at how they spiral around the handle, or how they form lazy "S's" around the top of the basked and "U's" along the sides. See how they change directions as the go around the basket or handle. See these things firs BEFORE you start to paint, it will save time in the long run.

I used my #4 flat sable brush because it has a nice sharp edge that I can control better than a bristle, you can also used a round sable brush if you don't have a flat one. I mixed a light color of yellow, a tiny touch of purple and white to lighten, this is my base color. To this color I added orange and sienna when I needed it to be darker and warmer like inside the basket (look at the photo you will see how warm the weave of the interior is). This is not my final highlight I am just getting started.

With the sharp edge of the flat brush, I used it to make the weave of the basket, referring to the photo almost every stroke for color and shape. I also mixed a dark color of ultramarine blue, sienna and a touch of white to add the shadows to give the weave more depth. I was careful to lightly blend light and shadow to avoid hard lines.

I also used that dark color to add the separations between the slats of the table using the same brush. Also by just tapping the edge of the brush I can start to add some of the cracks in the table but we will do more of that in the next couple weeks as we finish up this painting.

This is where I finished up last class so I hope that everyone who is painting along can get caught up to this point. We only have a couple weeks left in the semester so we need to buckle down and get this finished.

So keep painting and I will see you in class.