This watercolor study by Joan is fruit and learning watercolor 101. In watercolor there are layers of color in a building process to produce realism. Depending how many layers you add and how controlled the layers are depend on how far you want the painting to be realistic. Here are several steps to reach this point of realism 101. I will add more pictures as this painting develops. Once the background is painted in the colors of the fruit take on a different appearance in hues; look at previous pictures and notice how the fruit colors change in appearance. Adding shadows will ground the work so the fruit don’t look floating in space. The box is a deep purple which plays nicely with the fruits.

Watercolor will usually stay and follow a wet surface, if you wet a section of paper the watercolor should stay in the wet areas as a rule.  Painting on damp paper will give you a bleed mark or the new color will blend into the other. It is important to play around with paint to see how the control works for you. If you stop in mid stroke the color will build in that area and will not be a solid line or stroke. If you want a solid section then keep pulling a one stroke move.

In this final watercolor 101 Joan did a nice job painting. In watercolor 101 there are about four layers of color to build an object. Next watercolor is on the way being drawn and I will post updates.

So far the table grain was made by painting the a warm sepia brown over a damp surface painted in the same color. First paint the common color with a wide brush. If you look in the upper left section in the above picture you can see how Joan was painting from the box, apple and pear  stopping when painting in the sepia on the first layer. If you stop and don’t pull the color all the way through you get a line/band or heaviness of paint. If you don’t want a band of color make sure to pull the strokes all the way to the edge or off the edge of paper.

Now notice the brush in the bottom picture the brush is older and has stiff bristles. Making the paint a bit thicker or same stronger richer hue drag the stiff brush across the surface to make the grain lines . Follow the pattern the first main layer that has been put down.

The grain lines are not in the picture below.  Fuzzing the shadows of the grapes working wet on damp paper will help the shadow blend the edges. The shadows from the objects should ground or start to ground the objects.

************Look at the next two pictures and notice how the color of the grapes change in the following picture compared to the picture after this one. Just adding a background color changes the entire appearance. Think about how and what color will change the environment.

COMPARE THE NEXT TWO PICTURES AND HOW THE BACKGROUND CHANGES THE APPEARANCE  OF COLORS. HOW THE BACKGROUND COLOR WILL AFFECT THE HUES OF COLORS OF THE OTHER OBJECTS. NOTICE HOW THE GRAPES CHANGE IN APPEARANCE AND THE PEAR IS BRIGHTER JUST FROM THE BACKGROUND BEING ADDED. THERE WASN’T ANY COLORS ADDED TO THE FRUIT AND NOTICE HOW THE BROWN WOOD SURFACE EFFECTED THE COMPOSITION. THINK ABOUT AND PLAN A PAINTING AND THE COLORS YOU ARE USING. THE BRUSH IN THE FOLLOWING PICTURE IS #6 DRAG OR LINER. I LOVE THIS BRUSH AND HOW MUCH WATER/COLOR IT CAN HOLD AND THE DISTANCE YOU CAN GET USING IT. IF I HAD TO PICK ONE BRUSH TO PAINT AN ENTIRE PAINTING THIS WOULD BE THE BRUSH!

When starting grapes remember to look at the shapes and placement of each grape. How they are attached to the vine. Actually get grapes and examine how they really look. Paint them as spheres in values as you drawn in graphite. Remember to keep highlights in place to relationship to the light source. This watercolor will end up being wc 101, the next study will be 102 level with much more detail and realism. Each added layer of watercolor usually demands more controlled strokes, even dry brush techniques.