#151 & #152 7/17/19 Citrus Fruits

I've got 8 more tiny easel canvases burning a hole in my pocket, so I thought I would knock 4 of them out tonight....instead I got the 4 photos selected and cropped, printed, chalked, transferred and the backgrounds painted.  It was late so I called it a day.  But for today's date, I'm calling the first two....tomorrow I'll call the second two.

First two are the tangerines and the grapefruit.  The tangerine was inspired by a painting I saw on Daily Paintworks....the orange fruit, the green leaves and the dark background made for a very dramatic still life!  I found a picture on Pexels and away I went.  I decided the background color was better in the photo than in the idea I had in my head (which is the color "darkness").  The blue against the orange spoke to me.  Then there was the reflective surface they were sitting on, I loved that too.  The leaves were the most difficult, that is, to show how they bend and curve.  I don't think I really translated that well.  But overall, I'm satisfied with the painting.

The grapefruit painting involved a decision: keep it as a grapefruit....but what if it's really a blood orange...I could likely make it a regular orange if I wanted.  I decided to paint the flesh of the fruit pink, let the viewer make a choice as to whether it was a pink grapefruit or a blood orange.  For the color of the flesh I used Alizarin Crimson and white (in varying degrees).  So, note to self: if you need a deep pink, use Alizarin Crimson (I could have used this advice when painting the pink rose a few days ago, perhaps it wouldn't have turned out so pale).  Although the fruit flesh in the photo is still more intense than the Alizarin Crimson.  I think I'm perhaps too timid when it comes to extreme colors.