Fruits of my labor

Okay, I know it’s a cheesy title, but this is about fruits.  More specifically, it’s about pears.  This is the first post in this blog so I wanted to describe the pear picture that I have in my header.  I love painting pears almost as much as I love eating them (they are so delicious!).  They are knobby and pitted and beautifully imperfect.  Capturing the imperfections, for me, is what makes a painting look real.

This watercolor painting was done on Arches cold press paper.  I blocked out the pears and the wood with masking fluid and masking tape while I worked on the background.  For the back ground, I painted blotches with my masking fluid.  Then I added many layers of color beginning with a light wash of yellows and greens.  I built up the color on the left with a couple layers of light paint.  Then, I painted a thick layer of green on the left, and put some crinkled saran wrap on top.  I left that to dry, removed the masking fluid in the background and added a couple more light layers of color.  I worked on the board next, and I did the pears last.  Both the board and pears were achieved with many light glazes of the watercolor.  I hope you enjoy!

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