Well a couple of more days and it will be Thanksgiving. I've never been a big fan of turkey - if I had my way I would have a nice big helping of BBQ pulled pork spread out on a couple of slices of toasted thick sourdough bread - with roasted green chili on the side along with a couple of pork tamales. As I said........ IF I had my way.............
My DW Melissa has 5 days off which is GREAT!!! We'll go do some last minute food gathering tomorrow, a quick trip to Sam's Club - but first I will treat us to a nice Mocha at our favorite coffee shop ECCO which is just off the Plaza downtown. I may spring for a treat as well!! :>) Melissa at the moment is hooked on raspberry mochas - I get the regular mocha topped with an extra dose (or two) of whipped cream - I love whipped cream!!!
Any Whoooooooooo I did a quickie today of Three Tomatoes on 11 x 14 canvas panel. Believe it or not tomatoes are hard to paint as the correct color is difficult to attain. It took a lot to BLENDING on the surface and I think I have it pretty close.
OK - let's begin.
First a very loose sketch with some off white paint and a round brush - nothing fancy - just something to get me started. The BG is painted with a combination of black and ultramarine blue. As you can see I'm working from a photo. Not much of a sketch but you really do not need much to get started.
OK I throw some paint at the canvas to created a road map to get a general direction I want to head.
As you can see - MR. ED - my easel is once again in the photos - he is starting to become sort of demanding - I've got to do something about that!!!!!
OK - a bit of tweaking - tomatoes are a blend of red-orange-yellow-green and one can only hope that they come close to a believable color. I'll toss in some red, yellow and generate some cast shadows - the light is coming from the left.
Time to get some loose detail into the painting and make these 3 "things" resemble tomatoes. This will be done very, very quickly as you just can't fiddle with these colors as they are high on the scale for creating the DREADED MUD!!!!! Example - playing with red and green can eaisly create GRAY!!! Blending these particular colors directly on the surface wet into wet can bring about some muddy-muddy paint!!!
So I work quickly and lightly - "lightly" in the amount of pressure I put on the bristles of the brush.
BAM - DONE
NOW THAT IS WHAT I CALL QUICK
The original sketch with a round brush included 4 tomatoes. I decided to decrease it to 3 as in a still life odd numbers of items makes for a better composition - besides I tend to be lazy and 3 is better than 4!!! :>)
Well my friends I hope you enjoyed this quick presentation - it is a very simple painting done rather quickly - just having fun and trying out new techniques.
It may sound like I know what I'm doing, but truth be told every painting session is a new experience for me as I try never to do the same thing in the same way - I get bored easily and I feel there is always a better way to do something.
So with "bettering ones self" as the underlying message of this presentation, I shall leave you for today and once again my DW Melissa and I wish you all the highest level of health and happiness during the upcoming holiday season and thereafter as well.
Thank you for your support
JR :>)
