outdoor still life with hydrangeas and roses in oil

The first step here was to define main colors of shapes following the chosen composition and work loosely with broad brushes.

Now I start adding more colors to the main shapes of flowers and background notes. I also start working within each shape adding more colors. I keep shapes simple, keeping shades predominantly cool and sunlit planes predominantly warm.

The next stage shows a more elaborate work with colors within each shape, mostly with a brush and placing fruit in a certain order. I also try to keep colors coherent throughout the painting. If I introduce a new color I make sure I repeat it somewhere else in the painting.

In the final version you can see that I changed the position of the pears and their direction. I feel it is better when the pears look in the painting rather than out of it leading a view's eye in the painting. I darkened the shadows to deepen contrasts between light and shadow.

Still life with roses and watermelons

Here is a step-by-step demonstration of an outdoor still life with watermelons. 1.At the first stage I block do a sketch drawing blocking in colors of objects, keeping them of a medium value - not too dark not too light. In this still life almost all the object are of medium or light value. The darkest spots are the stems of roses and some leaves and the bottoms of watermelon slices. The right composition is the most important issue at this point.

2. I dilute colors with a rubbing alcohol staying loose. I don't worry about edges or drawing. I will do it with pastels later. The major thing at this stage are values.

3. I start working with pastels adding colors here and there, keeping the painting consistent in terms of colors, placing warm next to cool colors, cool to the warm ones, keeping some of colors almost pure, as those of watermelons - light yellow red and a bit of orange ( to show how full of light they are). I also add cool greens, violets and some pinks to the vase, warm yellow to the eyes of roses and cool blues and violets to other petals. I also keep a background darker than in real life to show a contrast between light bloom and dark background. I decide to add another slice to the foreground and a red rose to balance red and orange in the painting.

4. This is the final painting. I just work a bit more throughout the painting adding cool pink to the highlighted part of watermelons, some dark red to the shaded parts of the pulp; warm greens to the leaves and cool violet to the background; cool light pinks and yellows to the foreground. I also make sure that the whites of the roses are cooler and lighter in value and color than the whites of the cloth which is more warmer and yellow-pinkish. If you have several white objects in a still life you should decide what kind of whites are more important - in the flowers ( in their sunlit or shaded parts), the cloth or a jug ( its sunlit part, for example). Also, white may be closer to cool pink, warm pink, cool yellow, cool violet, warm gray, etc.. Also, you should establish a relationship between dominant colors in the painting. In this one it is a relationship between red-oranges of the pulp and blue-grays of the vase and shadows on the cloth and shaded parts of roses.

Demo of an outdoor still life with roses and melons done in pastel

Stage 1. I start with the underpainting and I use diluted oils. I put down basic local colors of objects, their sunlit and shaded parts. They are not either darks or lights, but local colors of objects, which can be of medium value. I will add darks and lights later with pastels.

Stage 2. I dilute the oils with more turp simplifying the shapes. I try not to be too dark, as the whole painting will look really dark, but make sure the surface of the paper is covered with paint, as the white of the paper may be distracting. I go for cool colors for the shades and warm colors for the sunlit parts of objects, the flowers, the vase and the cloth.

Stage 3. I keep on working on the flowers more and the vase adding specks of colors here and there. I work with pastels now and can be more detailed. I add cooler highlights to the flower petals, deepen the shaded parts of the stems and leaves and the cast shade. If I keep the shaded parts of melons warm the highlights on melons are cooler in color and lighter in values. I make sure all the colors I use are repeated in the painting here or there.

Here is the final version of the outdoor still life. I added more colors to the background, greens and violets and kept the red and yellow roses more saturated.