Unit II, Lesson 2--30 in 30 Challenge. Day Two, Orange Study #2

"Orange Study #2" by Monique Chartier.  6" x 6" oil on linen.

Today I chose to paint another orange still life, this time with one orange cut in half laying next to another.  By the way, these are the "Cuties" type mandarins.  They have a deep orange skin and the flesh almost glows in the light.  I have lots left ('tis the season).

Step One:  Set up the still life.

Step Two:  Tone the canvas.  I toned my canvas here with Ultramarine Blue and Transparent Oxide Red, mostly because I'm nearly out of Alizarin Permanent.  More is on the way, thank goodness!  Although, the Transparent Oxide Red looked great, too.

Step Three:  Create a value drawing.  I struggled a bit with the composition of this one because I didn't want to crop out any of either orange, but by not cutting off any edge, the cut orange falls within the midline of the canvas, which, in general leads to a contrived, distracting composition.  Here, however, I decided it was okay for a few reasons.  First, the whole orange in the background and the cut piece form one shape unit, which as a whole is not placed on the midline.  Second, because 1/3 to 1/2 of each orange is in shadow and with this style the dark edges blend into the background shadow, the ellipse shape of the cut orange face is not overly distracting.  I don't think, anyway.  It seems to work.

Step Four:  Draw the subject on the canvas.

Step Five:  Block in the subject.

The ugly part--the block in.  I am always uncomfortable at this point because it seems like the painting could never work.  But, it usually does.  Well, sometimes.  At least I'm getting more comfortable with the discomfort of it.    

Ohhh, and by the way, I've been using Cadmium Orange, which I happened to have, for these last two studies.  Because the mandarins are so vibrant, in places I'm using it straight from the tube (with a little bit of Liquin, too).

Oh, and by the way again, time to confess that this is actually my third painting.  I'm painting ahead.  I didn't post the second one because it was so terrible.  I didn't try to salvage it.  Instead, I wiped it clean.  Here is the oil-primed linen canvas after a turpentine bath.

Good as new!

Seriously, you can't tell there was a horrific abomination there at all, and I didn't have to throw out my canvas.  Love oil-primed linen.

Step Six:  Refine and add detail as necessary.

Step Seven:  Sign it.

Day Two of the 30 in 30 is in the books and on the blog!  You can see it, and a bunch of awesome paintings, on Leslie Saeta's blog here.  Here's what's left in my "Grab-Bag of Lessons":

Grab-bag of Lessons

• 8 Oranges
• 10 Apples
• 10 Pears 

Now, to eat my prop . . . .

You can access all of the lessons in this unit from the Index of Lessons page here.

As always, please subscribe to follow along or join in.  I'd love to meet you--please introduce yourself in the comments.  Also, your feedback is most appreciated.  Leave your questions, comments, and hate mail below.  (I won't post the hate mail, ha!)  Thanks for stopping by.  Monique