Unit II, Lesson 4--30 in 30 Challenge. Day Four, Pear Study #2

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

Today I chose to paint a Red D'Angou pear.  This one was difficult for me.  It is red with a yellow side, and I struggled with hue versus value, I think.  It took me awhile, but I think I got it.

Step One:  Set up the still life.  Now that I think about it, this little guy gave me trouble before I even started.  Somewhere along the way, its stem fell off.  To give myself some sort of reference, I picked the stem off of the green pear I painted yesterday and just perched it on top.  Ha ha!

Step Two:  Tone the canvas.  This was lots of fun.  I used Alizarin Permanent + Ultramarine Blue for the top, Viridian Green for the middle, and Cadmium Yellow Light for the bottom.  

Step Three:  Create a value drawing.

Step Four:  Draw the subject on the canvas.  I used Transparent Oxide Red thinned with turpentine to draw on the canvas.  Then I spilled the turpentine all over my palette and paints.  Some days . . . .

Step Five:  Block in the subject.

Starting the block-in with the darkest dark.

Blocking in the rest of the canvas.

Step Six:  Refine and add detail as necessary.  This part took the longest.  The values and hues were giving me trouble, and you'll see there's a dent on the side of the pear that seemed interesting at first, but just proved challenging to render realistically.  I learned a lot with this one (like, don't choose to paint a dented red and yellow pear that lost its stem).

Almost finished adding detail.

Step Seven:  Sign it.  I signed it on my lower left because the painting is weighted toward the right.

Finished!

Day Four of the 30 in 30 is in the books and on the blog!  You can see it on Leslie Saeta's blog here.  26 little fruit paintings left to create.  Here's what's left in my "Grab-Bag of Lessons":

Grab-bag of Lessons

• 8 Oranges
• 10 Apples
• 8 Pears 

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