This red large petaled Hibiscus, grows in our garden, and does brighten up the room, if you put it in a vase.

Hibiscus
Oil on board
6 x 7"




Image free of copyright:

Pomegranates. They have this lovely orange crimson blend, its a delight to paint.
This painting was done live, without reference to the photograph.

Oil on board
7 x 6"




(Image free for use)

I re-did the Mug with Onion , but this time, I used the photo as reference, copying values directly from the pic. You can see the difference by scrolling down.
Painting from photo reference does help a lot, but its always good to do a dry run live and without photos, before doing the final version with the help of photo images.


Mug & Onion re-done
6 x 7" Oil on board

Pawpaws, or Papaya , as it is called here, are a treat in summer. Just slice a few of the flesh, drop it in your blender , add sugar, and you have yourself a fine juice, and its great for your stomach. Cures all your stomach problems.
Besides, depending on the color of the papaya, you can get a deep orange color in your glass.
After a short break Im back at the easel. Had a bit of work this week so I couldnt paint. But today, Sunday, I did manage one.

Pawpaw.
Oil on board.
6 x 7 "






(Image free of copyright.)

Along with daily painting comes the new job of finding new things to paint. A not so easy task, I might add. I see some daily painters painting even needles, pins, and what not. Yesterday I picked these glorious looking egg-plant at the market. So I wan't to experiment with mauve as the central color in a painting.
The shadow is Viridian green mixed with blue. Viridian Green is the near complement of Mauve.


Eggplant
Oil on board.
6 x 7"

Two Apples

Apples! I love painting and eating them! I am far from reaching the level I like, but getting the right colors is always a challenge.
I painted directly , the photo was taken later. Mauve was used in the shadow areas of the apple.

Apples
Oil on board
6 x 7"




(image free of copyright)

Painting cracked coconuts is interesting! Especially because they have this dark band of the shell encircling the white coconut flesh.
This painting was done using Copal medium, a first for me , as I've never before worked with Copal. But I love it. It has a flow and handling that suits alla prima.
This painting took about 90 minutes to finish.
Interesting thing you can do here, is, if you wan't to put in the fine fiber of the coconut, just reverse your brush, and scratch in the hairs. ( Oooops!! Secret out!)

Coconut
Oil on board.
6 x 7 "






(Image is copyright free)

Pineapple

Pineapples! I love them! Although you can't eat a lot of pineapples, 'cos they do this thing to your teeth, so normally I juice them. Being summer I drink a lot of pineapple juice.


Pineapple
6 x 7"
Oil on primed board.




(Image copyright free)

At the moment I've decided not to work from digital images.
I feel I need to get a firm hold of Alla Prima before resorting to digital pics.
One needs to be able to transcribe what one sees into colors, values, the right hue, saturation. Only when I feel I have a firm grasp of that, will I paint directly from digital images.

Working from digital photos makes the job of placing the hues much simpler, although some would disagree. It all depends on one's own style of seeing things. How much you can train yourself into recognizing the values and colors from life.

Its a nice habit to look around , frame a picture of what you see in your mind, then turn it into a painting,(in your mind), first trying to see it in a monochoromatic tone, then as pigments. Then make a color menu out of it. Nice habit to keep!
Blurring your eyes will help a lot. Carry around a camera, or if you use a mobile phone with a camera, keep clicking away, then come back to your favourite image editor, and experiment with the tones and colors. You can call it your digital sketch book. Archive it regularly , soon you will have a library of your own images.

Mug with Onion

Today I'd made up my mind to do a painting. Amid frequent visits by freinds, clients, I managed to lock myself into my studio, and get this going.

The finished painting
Mug with Onion
6 x 7 " Oil on primed board




The middle stages,the background is covered with Yellow Ochre , Cobalt Blue, and a little Burnt Umber. The steel mug is laid in with Cobalt Blue, and the reflection of the onion with the same Blue plus Alizarin Crimson.





The first stage of the painting. I had toned a canvas with a mix of crimson and burnt umber. I sketched in with brush , and laid in the dark tones.




I found this steel mug in the kitchen , I really like it, and it makes a good subject. (Image is for your use, copyright free.)

Cup with beans and a tomato

Ooops! I thought I could, but obviously I couldnt!! Lol.
But Im back with a painting. Fact is I got busy and involved in training people in graphic software. So my day got filled up. But if you bear with me, the intervals of abscence will gradually decrease , and I will eventually level out with daily works postings.
To all those who were keeping tabs, Im sorry for the absence.

This is a painting I did today of a cup , some green beans, and a tomato.
Im getting better at alla prima gradually, so I expect to see some real improvement in the future. But to me who 's been painting the classical method wet on wet is quite difficult to master.

Cup with Tomato and green beans
Oil on prepared board. 6 x 7 "



And here's the photo of the still life. (Copyright free, use it as you will.)