Want dramatic light? Just think inside the box!

When I first started painting, I would photograph my subject near a window to get the dramatic lighting I liked.  I would then paint from the photograph.  Of course, at that time it would take months to finish a painting, so painting from life wasn't usually an option.  A few-month-old apple doesn't look so appealing!

Once I began painting from life, I struggled to obtain the correct lighting.  I tried painting in an unlit room with a light on my subject and another on my canvas.  The problem was that if I had enough light on my canvas to paint, there was too much light on my subject so that it lacked drama.

The solution was to use a box!  Now I could paint in a well lit room, but limit the light to my subject.  Hooray!

We just bought a new printer, which wasn't so exciting, but it did come in a nice box!  Because this box is deep, it keeps too much light from reaching your subject from the front.  I cut a section out of the side toward the top, which is where I placed my lamp.  I use an adjustable photography lamp, which is great, because I can direct the light from any angle.

I chose to paint some basil and tomatoes from our garden.  I thought the olive oil dispenser we purchased in Italy would add some height and I balanced the white of the dispenser with some garlic.  Unfortunately, I only had a half head of garlic, so I had to lean it against the tomato and improvise a bit.

It looks pretty good, now let's turn the light on...

Wow!  What a difference!  The tomatoes glow and the basil has become translucent.  Much better!

Hint:  If you are painting basil under hot lights, put it in water.  Next time I will try the little water tubes florists sometimes use for individual flowers.  My basil wilted fast, so I needed to improvise and change my composition a bit.  

After a half day, "Garden Harvest"  looks like this.  Hmmm....  Not my favorite.  I think it needs a few changes.  Check out how I improve this painting next time.  Too bad I can't count it as a completed painting yet - still only at 2!

"Apple-Shaped"

I painted an apple using the same method I used for the pear.  I can relate to the shape!

Paint with me - How to paint a pear in 10 easy steps!

I'm going to create this painting in 10 easy steps.  I hope you join me in painting your own pear and post your finished product!

I started with an 8" x 10" canvas and my palette of colors (shown above).   You will need more Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Umber, and Titanium White than any other colors, so put 3-4 times more of those colors on your palette.  Make a mixture of half Ultramarine Blue and half Burnt Umber.  I refer to this as your “dark mixture”.

Using your dark mixture thinned with paint thinner, paint the basic shape of your subject with straight brush strokes.  My pear will be leaning a little, so its basic shape is a leaning triangle.

This step might seem silly, but it is really important because it gives you an idea of where your subject will live on the canvas.  Step back and decide if the shape is too big or small, too high or low, or too far to one side.  It is much easier to make a change at this point than later on in the painting process.  Trust me!

Again using your thinned, dark mixture, establish the shadow areas of the painting.  In this step, you will paint the areas of the background and subject that are in shadow (for example, the darker side of the pear), not just the shadow that your subject is casting. Continue to only use straight strokes at this point.  I like to paint both the right and left sides of the shelf or table edge in shadow, so the viewer’s eye doesn’t follow the shelf edge out of the painting.

Paint your shadow areas using your dark mixture and cadmium colors.  Here I added cadmium red to my dark mix to paint on and under the shelf and in the background and I added cadmium yellow light for the pear. Keep the paint smooth and thin, but you can use curvy strokes now! 

I’m into blue right now, so I wanted a mainly blue background.  I mixed thalo blue with black and white, for the background and for the grayer areas on the table.  I added my cadmium yellows to paint the reflection on the shelf.  I like to allow the brush strokes to show without making the background too busy.

Using earth tones (Naples Yellow, Yellow Ochre and Indian Red) and white, paint the light area of the pear.  I also used a little bit of my cadmium yellow light in the mix, but be careful not to add too much.  You don’t want your light areas to be the brightest, most color-saturated areas of the painting.

When painting the light areas, I use thicker paint and more prominent brush strokes.  I load my brush, paint a couple of short straight brush strokes in a circular pattern, then reload the brush.  As I reach the edges of the light area, the paint becomes thinner and smother.

I added a bit of reflected light on the bottom right side of the pear using my light color mix.  Add just enough reflective light to tie the light and shadow areas together, but not so much that it is distracting.  This usually looks a bit odd to me when I first add it, but looks good by the time the painting is complete.

For the midrange, I used brighter, deeper colors just a tiny bit darker than my light area.  I’m always tempted to blend too much at this point.  I try to just tap back and forth between my midrange and light area, then with a clean, dry brush tap between my midrange and dark area.

At this point, it is starting to look like a pear!

Using my dark mix with a little cadmium red light, I cleaned up and darkened the shadow cast by the pear.  A solid shadow line underneath the pear can make it look like it is floating above the shelf, so I used a broken shadow line to keep it connected with the table.

I loaded my brush with a mixture of white and Indian Yellow Pale and gently placed in the highlights.  I hold my brush almost like I would hold a knife when frosting the side of a cake.  When I first put in the highlights, I’m tempted to blend them (and they look a little blurred because this photo isn't the best); however, I remind myself that they will look good once the painting is finished.  Don’t blend them!

This is the really exciting part when the painting comes together!   To complete this painting, I

•  Added the stem
•  Darkened the shelf edge and where the shelf meets the back wall
•  Threw some cadmium yellow light into my background 
•  Added a "halo" around the pear 
• Crisped up some edges and blended out others to create lost edges

These details make quite a difference.  Voila!  My painting is finished!

Some of My Favorite Paintings

One (or three!) of my favorite paintings are these little 12" x 12" portraits of my children (from top to bottom, "The Oldest", "Middle Child", and "Peanut", who looks to be hanging a little crooked!) when they were younger.  I painted these from photographs, because kids just can't keep still.  They've all got such beautiful blue eyes so I chose to dress them all in blue.  I love the detail in the face and the looser clothing and hair.  So cute!

Another favorite of mine, White Pitcher (18" x 24"), is an old one.  This was my second oil painting, painted during a time that I was going for photo-realism.  I have a more painterly style now, but I still count this painting as one of my favorites and it has found a home above my fireplace.  "Peanut" convinced me to decorate for Halloween already - Boo!