Pomegranate, Persimmons and a Brick

(SOLD) This painting went through so many changes. I started it before I got the awful cold that kept me out of the studio for over a week. I lost my focus while painting the cloth draped in the background and at the end of the day scraped off the afternoon’s work. When I came back the next day, my foam core shadow box had collapsed and was on the floor along with the drapery and the LED light that I’d perched atop on a piece of plexiglass. Fortunately the brick held steady as did the fruit.

That accident gave me the opportunity to try a different background. I removed the white paper I’d been using to cover the black walls of the shadow box and painted the now darker background. I had fun painting the persimmons and the brick and I think I did a good job understanding them; the pom not so much. It  should have a more geometric, boxy shape, not be so rounded.

Below are the stages in trying to get this thing painted, along with the set up as it changed. Click on an image to see full picture, scroll over images to read captions.

(SOLD)

Preliminary sketch, Graphite in Moleskine, 8×10″

Photo of the set up

Sketched in Pitt Pastel Pencil and burnt umber oil paint wash

Continuing blocking in with burnt umber

Blocking in with transparent earth colors

Darkest darks

WIP with set up and palette, pre-mixed colors

Starting to use opaque colors

Continuing painting

Painting background and foreground

Trying a white table top/foreground

Scraped off funky drapery paint

New setup after first one collapsed

First layer of dark paint on background and foreground, adjustments to fruit

Sold. Pomegranate, Persimmons, Brick, Oil on Arches Oil Paper, 10×10″