Painting Lesson: Lemons

Beginning Oil Painting: Lemons

 

 

 

This is a general diagram of the light planes on a lemon. The light is coming from the upper right. Try to locate the light planes on your lemon.

 

 

 

Everything that is not lemon and cast shadow is called negative space. There is a background negative space and a foreground negative space.

 

 

This is an example of a still life set up. The light is angled from above, so that the cast shadows are toward the front. You want to clearly see the hot spot, and the three value planes that create the form. Adjust your light until you are able to see the light planes.

 

 

Start with a wash of raw sienna, the consistency of tea. Wipe out the lemon forms. Find the negative space that is background and wash in a darker value of raw sienna. Begin to indicate where you see the darkest values using thicker paint. Keep the entire surface as thin as possible. Evaluate your composition and make adjustments in placement and size if necessary. Be sure your lemon forms overlap, and that you have established a pleasing composition.

 

 

For the background negative space, use gradation, moving from cool darks to warm darks. Mix Ultramarine blue with warm red, gradually changing to cool red. Paint should be thinned slightly with turpentine, to the consistency of mayonnaise. 

Repeat for the foreground negative space. The gradation in the foreground will be lighter and warmer. Starting left to right, mix cool red with a little blue, and gradually shift to the warm red mixed with white. Add a touch of yellow if you want. The gradation goal is dark moving to light, and cool moving to warm.  Keep brush marks loose. It is not necessary to cover all of the raw sienna ground at this point.

 

 

Block in the middle value of your lemons using yellow. Begin to suggest the warmer side planes by adding a little warm red to the yellow.  Ad touches of green to suggest darker planes turning away from the light.

 

Block in the leaves if you have included them. Mix a green using your blues and yellow, and blues and raw sienna. Indicate the general light planes and darker shadows.

 

Stand back and evaluate your composition at this point.

• Do you see gradation cool to warm in the background?
• Do you see gradation warm to cool in the foreground?
• Do your lemon forms overlap?
• Are you pleased with the placement of the lemons and leaves?
• Are you able to see a suggestion of the planes on the lemons?

Look carefully at the planes on the lemons. Mix white into your yellow and indicate the light plane – reserve the lightest yellow/white for the hot spot. The middle value plane is the closes to the local color of the lemons. Mix a yellow that closely matches what you see. Mix a warm yellow-orange for the dark value plane. This is the plane turning away from the light. There will be bounce light from the surface of the table, and you can play with this by adding a little more intense orange. As the form turns under against the table edge darken the yellow with your mixed green. 

Begin to indicate the cast shadows by mixing blue with your cool red. Study your still life and see if you can find bits of light around the forms, between the leaves of lemons. Indicate with a lighter color. 

Begin to indicate the light and dark planes on the leaves. Put in your darkest shadow darks at this point.

 

Begin to put in a few details: veins in the leaves, the stem end on the lemon. Look for the movement of light across your still life. Do you see any interesting lights you can add to your painting? I found light on the edge of a leaf. Add more color into the foreground to make the negative space interesting. Stand back and evaluate what you have created.

 

You may copy this lesson for your personal use.  Please ask for permission if you want to reproduce any part of this lesson in your own blog.

SueSmith@2007