Not for Eating
Sometimes, I hit a wall while working on a larger work. When this happens, I will take a break and work on something else. When this happened recently, I bought some pears and painted studies of them, trying out different lighting and arrangements. Of course the pears were eaten, but not until they had fulfilled their role as subjects for my art.
A pear is a simple object. There are two challenges to painting them. The first is to give it volume. In my fist study, a light from the upper left provides strong contrast revealing the bulbous bottom and tapered top. I lay down the basic shape and slowly work on the shadows, mid-tones and lights. When my pear has form, the second challenge is to depict the skin of the fruit. At first, I am tempted to ignore it but then where would the fun be. Spots are a key characteristic. I decided to proceed. Working in pastels, if the attempt to depict the spots went wrong, there was always the possibility to blend them away.
I was happy with result. In a second study and third study I changed the lighting to have two sources. A strong one from the left and a weaker one from the right.
When I returned to my larger work, I was energised and finished it shortly afterwards.
BRIDGET'S FINE ART PASTELS 