Painting process
Pumpkins
Pumpkins were on my list to paint for a long time. I would always look at pumpkins in the shop and imagine how beautiful they would look on the painting.
Photography for the project
As you can see I had quite a few attempts to composition. I had 4 different pumpkins and an hour of beautiful sunlight in the evening during golden hours. I set up a chair in my garden and prepared some clothes as a backdrop. I took at least 80 pictures of 10 different configurations of pumpkins.
Painting process
To transfer an enlarged printed photograph to the canvas I am using the graphite paper. Then I paint with transparent glazing medium over the outlines. When it is dry I can work on the grayscale version of the painting – using only shades of grey (Mars Black + Titanium White). After the underpainting is finished I paint over it with glazing medium and let it dry.
Tips:
- It is important to keep in mind that the darker the grey colour, less bright would look the colours painted over it.
- Try to be careful creating transitions and be precise as this grayscale painting is going to be visible through next colour layers.
Now I am working on my first colour layer. It is helpful to premix the colours and have them ready on your palette. I start with a background – the furthest elements from the eye. Then I move to elements closer to my eye in the foreground. The main subject are the pumpkins, so I am painting them last. At this stage I do not add details, just the colours and smooth transitions.
I am working on first colour layer – orange pumpkin gets a lovely shading.
During the first colour layer I decided to add all the green spots while colouring green pumpkin. Then I painted the little stalks coming from pumpkins and covered the whole painting with glazing medium and let it dry.
It was time to work on second colour layer – I worked again on the background first – improving the shading on the cloth. I love to add lots of brush spots to the background – creating a unique texture. Here you can see a distinctive texture on the light cloth.
Next I added more colour variation for yellow pumpkin and all the beautiful orange spots. Green pumpkin required some corrections to yellow colour. I also added more colour adjustments to a light cloth at the foreground – improved the shading. At the end I painted the painting over with a glazing medium and let it dry.
The last colour layer is when I add more details and last corrections to the colour tones. I started with some adjustments for the blue background and created lovely texture with brush spots. Then I worked on the light foreground – improving shading and texture.
Next I added more details to each pumpkin. Orange pumpkin needed more work – I darked the colour in shaded areas. Yellow pumpkin got more details – more spots and darked shaded areas. Also green pumpkin had its spots and shading perfected.
At the end I painted the painting over with a glazing medium and let it dry. Next step would be varnishing with a lovely gloss varnish.
