Cherries - Second Stage

hi there!

i didn't expect to have time to paint today (fridays are my day to hang out with my son) but i did!

i decided to address a couple of the points i listed yesterday - the foreground & the shadows, & making those purple balls look like three-dimensional cherries!


(there's some reflection off the dark background paint i couldn't eliminate in the photo.)

i'm much happier with it, except for the little cherry in the back. i ended up scraping it out at least four times!! once with the palette knife, the other times with q-tips, which not only worked better, but left a nice base for me to build on. it needs more work tomorrow - the highlight has to be lightened, but i'm feeling this one is almost done. just have to finish the *grumble grumble* little cherry, put on the stems, do some final adjustments . . .

before i started, i realized i was having that same old feeling: oh, i'll just make it worse. i won't be able to figure out what it needs. etc etc. till i just got up, took out my palette, picked up a brush, and started gooping paint onto the foreground just for fun. and then it was fun! playing like that allowed me to let go of all the hesitations & just work on it. before i knew it, two hours had passed & i could go no further. but what a joy it was today! (and thank you all for your encouragement!)

even the little cherry - took me forever to figure out what i was doing wrong - should not have used the cad red light, but rather stuck with the alizarin, which makes up the base of the others. i also darkened the big cherry on the left (by adding some of the blue to the alizarin) and reddened (using more alizarin) the main cherry, to bring the focus fully where i wanted it.

and that's it! observing, analyzing, learning my paints - and letting go & having fun!

till next time - take care -

dusty!