Today's apple

Painting a red apple was much trickier than painting a green apple. I found it very difficult to lighten red without making pink and it took me many trys to get the hue right. Maybe it's time to do some colour charts!

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Comment by Jessica Futerman on June 6, 2014 at 17:45: Silvana - yes, there's so much to take into account, even in what seems to be a very simple painting. I think we need an entire course just on cast shadows! Trying to see the difference between warm & cool grey shadows & to know when & why that happens is pretty challenging!

Comment by Silvana M Albano on June 6, 2014 at 13:22: Mus sit down and let all this info sink in!

Comment by Jessica Futerman on June 6, 2014 at 9:40: Thanks a lot for the answers, Michael - I'm going to try this one again soon! Thank you too, Laura :-)

Comment by Laura Xu on June 6, 2014 at 5:05: Jessica, I think you really done great jobs on these apples(both green and red).

Comment by Michael J. Severin on June 6, 2014 at 2:38: Darker and WARMER under and nearer the apple ..don't forget the occlusion shadow. Actually, the light really does that to the background!!!! ....and even if it did not, I would suggest you do it anyway ... It is best to have light against dark ...everywhere we can set that up. A good painting reads like a ladder both vertically and horizontally ...light, dark, light, dark, light, dark ......etc., etc. BTW, did I mention that your apple does look pretty doggone nice! :)) Another BTW ....you are probably putting too much white to tint the red? ...red is a middle value color that should not need to be lightened too much. If you feel the light side of the red apple is not light enough ..then go the other route ..DARKEN the shadow side ..it will make the other side look lighter.

Comment by Jessica Futerman on June 6, 2014 at 2:10: Thanks Michael for the helpful suggestions; I really appreciate your taking the time to do it! I think I adjusted the shadow beside the apple (adding green to make it cooler) & forgot to make a lost edge again! I will make it darker, closer to the apple as you mentioned; at the moment it does seem to float. About the background values: in my set-up (very amateur cardboard box!) the light is coming from the side which I have made lightest. Do you mean the background values should be reversed, not because they really are that way, but to add more drama & so that the apple stands out from the background? I thought the way I did it, I could make a lost edge on the top of the apple where it hits the dark background, which I tried to do. I did find also that even adding yellow back into the red mixtures didn't take away the "pinkish" hue - maybe because I was using titanium white; I think zinc white might be better.

Comment by Michael J. Severin on June 6, 2014 at 0:19: Hi Jessica, When you tint red with white, it makes it cool and pale ...pink .as you have found out. The solution is to put the warmth back into it by adding yellow. BTW, we discussed this on your last painting concerning shadows...the shadow is darkest and warmest at the base of the object ..it gets lighter and cooler as it goes out. If you do this, you will find that your apple sits firmly on the ground. It will also give you the opportunity for a lost edge ...remember the walls of your last painting? ...well, it is the same for everything. Now this is kind of strange .and you are not going to believe it until you see it ..BUT ..the background values should be reversed!! ..the dark side against the light of the apple and the lighter side against the dark of the apple.