Pears – wet on wet
På SvenskaYou can actually use whatever colors you want In this exercise, I myself used Phthalo blue, Burnt sienna, nickel dioxin yellow, Ivory black and cadmium red. It is not the colors that are important in the painting, it is the approach, which should be to paint wet on wet on one surface at a time, when a surface is finished it should not be further processed, but left untouched.
Step 1
Paint a background around the pears. Not with just one color, it’s boring, let different colors mix on the paper wet on wet. Keep in mind that this is only a background, it should not be bland but not too interesting either. Calm colors, but not too uninteresting.
Step 2
Paint a surface for the pears, Start by painting the entire surface with the lightest color, before it has dried, paint the dark part, the front of the board on which the pears stand. It’s nice if the light top and the dark front flow a little together. Then mix a blue-black color used for the dark area under the board and shadows under the pears, also this should be wet on wet, so you do not have much time at your disposal, paint quickly.
Step 3
The back pear should now be painted wet on wet, try to get a round shape on it by painting light on the left side and darker on the right side. The color should be greenish, before it has dried “dab” a little red color here and there.
Step 4
When the first pear has dried, paint the second. The same technique and colors apply to the second as to the first. Notice the small highlight on the right side of the pear. It is good if you get it, do this by lifting up paint with a slightly damp brush. The same technique can be used to make brighter left sides on both pears.
Step 5
Mix a neutral or blue-gray color, paint with this a shadow over the pears, not the whole pear though, the left part of the pears that are light, just paint with water. So: Paint the shadow on one of the pears but leave an unpainted part on the left, erase the sharp edge with clean water (just a little). Do the same on the other pear.
Step 6
Now only two stems remain, this is the only thing in the painting that I have not painted wet on wet. I first painted with a light brownish color the whole stems, when it has dried I paint with a dark color a shadow on the right side of each stem.
