My Fruit is Rotting!

Junebug

I went to the grocery store yesterday and picked out perfect pears to paint. When I went back this afternoon, they look awful. You can see every bump they ever had. ( It's too late now, but I guess I'll take a picture of placement and go by some new ones and photograph them before they rot. It wouldn't be so bad but I've already painted the background around the edges.

marieb

@junebug ,Oh No, Perhaps you can adjust the background to suit the size of the newly purchased pears ... I remember Mark saying that it is difficult to paint fruit unless you can paint quickly, which leaves us open to making mistakes when we are only learning. You could always try to buy unripe fruit....

Junebug

I was bummed. I spent too much time getting them the right height and the shadow right and the cloth right that I didn't get to finish it yesterday. That's a good point, I may can push the background around to fit the new ones. LOL on unripe fruit. The bad thing is how many I have to eat now. :@)

Junebug

Tx @Kingston I got carried away with painting all the way around them. A hold over from my coloring book days.

Castillo

@Junebug‌ when life hands you lemons. . . . In this case pears. . . . . . rotten pears. . . you go with it and keep painting just like Caravaggio did.

Junebug

@Castillo That pretty much sums up how mine look. Tx for the insight.

Junebug

I went out and bought new pears this morning with every intention of painting them ASAP. But so beautiful outside decided to play golf instead. I hope they keep.

Melissa

Do your set up, take a photo. It's ok to use photos. Really!

Ron

Have a great day out there in the open, away, far away from studio angst! >-

Junebug

@Melissa Great idea, set up, take photo, play golf! I love it.

Junebug

The real pears are beyond painting from. I can't tell shadows from spreading rot. ( This is as far as I got-will have to shop for pears again tomorrow - I have more $$ in pears than canvas. Used some new brushes, learned that some paints dry faster than others!!! Also, I will pay more attention to how I set up the pears as placement can keep them from looking like pears. Fabric (Damask) not the best choice either. Starting to think a big part of a good painting is what one chooses to paint. Also, starting to think I'd do better standing up.

Not a good pic but easy with phone. 11x14

Ron

Just a thought - keep it simple and see forms & shapes , not pears. Having said that - I like those colors!

Junebug

@Ron I was using the color checker, but the bruises are so bad that every "check" has brown in it. hahaha I know what you're saying and I meant when you look at my painting, the 3rd pear doesn't really look like a pear, but I swear that's how it looks. I'm going to let them dry and then pick a day (rainy so not tempted to play golf) when I can buy pears and finish.

Junebug

I used the proportional divider to draw, I think I should have done a few more points but when I was drawing, they looked fine.

marieb

@junebug , they look like pears to me ...even the third one...the laying on of colour will give them form

Martin_J_Crane

One of the things still life painter CW Mundy teaches is the "association factor," i.e., if he has a group of similar objects, he paints only one of them accurately, then the others are painted more abstractly, leaving more to the viewer's imagination. http://www.cwmundy.com/2011/10/11/artist-daily-workshop-mastering-the-dramatic-still-life-in-oils-with-c-w-mundy/