DEMONSTRATION: HEIRLOOMS WITH CHERRIES
1 Work out all the details of your composition in a drawing. Then use an HB pencil to transfer your drawing to an eight-ply museum board. The board will be a sturdy support for your painting.
2 Apply ivory black, alizarin crimson, and ultramarine blue gouache to the background with a #4 watercolor brush. Airbrush highlights on the right side using burnt sienna, alizarin crimson, and Naples yellow gouache. Where the shadows overlap, create an even darker shadow with ivory black gouache.
3 Start filling in the patterns of the foreground rug with ivory black and yellow ochre. To judge the other colors you will use later, gauge the darkest color early on in the painting process.
4 Now add other colors to the rug. Take your time perfecting the designs with blues, reds, and browns. Mix each color with a touch of black to make it darker, creating an underpainting for the tapestry.
5 Once the tapestry’s underpainting is finished, bring out the brilliant colors in the patterns. Apply a layer of local color with yellows, blues, and reds. These are the colors the tapestry will remain, except in areas hit by direct light or areas of shadow.
6 Airbrush a dark wash of ivory black and alizarin crimson watercolor over the right side of the rug that is in shadow. Notice how the tapestry details are still visible beneath the wash. Using watercolor over gouache creates very effective shadows.
STEP ONE Create an underpainting for the large books in the foreground with burnt umber, zinc white, and a touch of ivory black. Do not use permanent white when mixing colors, as it may cause other colors to fade.
STEP TWO Paint over the books with tints of the colors in step one. Now fill in the gold designs with yellow ochre, cadmium yellow, and zinc white. Spray the shadowed areas with black watercolor, and then add pure white highlights in the gold designs.
7 Airbrush highlights with lighter tints of the rug colors. Now paint the book’s pages with yellow ochre and zinc white. Add burnt umber and ivory black to this mixture to airbrush the shadows. Create the writing with ivory black, burnt umber, and zinc white.
8 Paint the lemons and yellow reflections with cadmium yellow. Then add yellow ochre to the lemon on the far right and airbrush it with burnt umber, alizarin crimson water-color, and ivory black. Use cadmium red for the other fruit and red reflections.
9 Now start defining the two books in the foreground. (See “Books Detail” above and “How to Paint Old Books” on page 14 for more information.)
10 Complete the cherries and apple in the back (see “Cherries Detail” on page 30). Paint the rinds of the middle lemons and apple flesh with a Naples yellow and yellow ochre gouache mix. Then apply pure ivory black to the darkest areas of the silver pieces.
STEP ONE When rendering any type of fruit, begin with an underpainting. For these cherries, cadmium red was applied in an earlier step. At this point, the cherries still appear flat and uninteresting.
STEP TWO Airbrush a wash of alizarin crimson, and then a wash of ivory black watercolor over the right shadowed side of the cherries. Then touch up the over-spray of alizarin crimson on the book with gouache.
STEP THREE Where the light is strongest, apply lighter tints of cadmium red along the outer left edge of the cherries. Finally, add pure white highlights with permanent white gouache for a glistening sheen.
11 Now complete the underpainting for all the silver pieces (see “Silver Detail” step one below). At this point, the entire museum board should be covered with paint and no white from the painting surface should remain. Now it is time to refine the silver pieces; accurately rendering these reflective surfaces is key to creating a sense of realism in this painting.
12 Begin by developing the large teapot in the background and the silver piece to its left (see “Silver Detail” below and “How to Paint Silver” on page 12). Then complete the lemons in the center, painting them with full lighting and airbrushing cast shadows to their right using ivory black watercolor. Add permanent white gouache highlights with a #1 watercolor brush.
SILVER DETAIL
STEP ONE Start with the brightest colors, then the darkest shades, and then the midtones. The fruit reflections and ivory black were added previously. Now use mixtures of ivory black, cobalt blue, and Naples yellow for the mid-tones to complete the underpainting.
STEP TWO Mask off the spout, and then paint it and the handle with ivory black, cerulean blue, and zinc white. Spray on Indian yellow watercolor for warmth. Paint the spout with Chinese orange and ivory black; then use Naples yellow and zinc white for the highlights.
STEP THREE Paint the parallel bands around the neck and base of the silver piece, taking into account the colors of the different objects reflected in them. Now refine the floral patterns and other reflections, making them lighter in color.
STEP FOUR Capture the wonderful glisten of the sliver by adding the brightest highlights. Start with an airbrush, and then use a small watercolor brush loaded with pure permanent white. Be sure to include highlights where the light hits the floral designs.
13 Now finish the silver piece above the books on the left. (See “Silver Detail” on page 30.) Pay careful attention to the highlights and reflections on the surface of the silver from the objects surrounding it.
STILL LIFE WITH CHERRIES (38 1/2" × 53") gouache on museum board, Private Collection
14 Complete the last silver piece on the right and the cherry in front of it (see “Cherries Detail” on page 30). Then paint the foreground apple and apple slice. The apple’s skin is cadmium red gouache, and the flesh is a mix of yellow ochre and zinc white gouache. The airbrushed shadows on the slice are burnt umber and ivory black watercolors. Next paint the knife to subtly blend in with its surroundings. Tape off the edges of the blade to ensure that they are sharp and clean when you airbrush ivory black watercolor at the base of the blade and zinc white gouache at the tip of the blade. Don’t forget to capture the cherry reflection on the knife blade. For the knife handle, use burnt umber, ivory black, and zinc white gouache for the top. The shaded side of the handle is an ivory black and burnt umber gouache mixture. Now go over all of the white highlights with fresh, clean permanent white to add sparkle to the entire painting. The final step is to proudly add your signature. I actually signed the piece earlier on the spine of the bottom book, but the placement is entirely up to you as long as you include it!