The dark side of the fig
Posted: September 15, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized 20 CommentsIf I squint the dark side of the fig and its shadow blend together. That was the first wash in the sketch. The deep yet dusty purple is a mysterious colour to mix — a blend of purple and green with a yellowish glow in places. Sketched in an Arches spiral sketchbook — a paper that soaks up all the water yet one that I continue to use.
Shari Blaukopf's Sketchbook 
Sweeeeeet !!!!! I don’t know what I like the most… the thin lines or the colors… How do you do this…? do you have tutorial videos? It would be nice ! : )
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I don’t have tutorial videos. I have often been asked but I barely have enough time to sketch in a day. Adding video to that… I would never get any sleep. Maybe one of these days I’ll try to find the time.
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Nice! I see color change in each fig and love the warm colors that light it up.
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Thanks Pat.
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These figs glow! Beautiful!!
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Thanks Missy!
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My 22 year old said “Wow, sweet!” which is about a high a compliment as you can get 🙂
Tracey
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Send a big thanks to your 22 year old!
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Such delicate and beautiful colours and shapes Shari 🙂 These figs are bursting with beauty!
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Thanks Mary!
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i see sunlight through the window. And we saw your paintings in the window in Rockport on Thursday.
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There was some good afternoon sunlight. So glad you saw the work in Rockport! I love that place.
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Brilliant use of the dark surface area on the right to make the white of the plate explode, yet still bring attention to the delicacy of the shadows on and around the figs. Love that violet on the foremost fig, and how it’s almost reflected on the immediate figs around it.
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Thanks so much Jason. Lately I have been painting the shadow first and letting a bit of that wash seep into the fruit wash, rather than treating them separately.
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I love this. Wish I had read this post before sketching a cluster of mushrooms this weekend. A similar situation with the dark side and the shadow melding. Thanks for the instructive post. I think I’ll give the mushrooms another try.
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I hope you gave them another try. Mushrooms are hard to paint.
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Beautiful Shari, So dramatic.
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Thanks Gail!
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The dusty purple is beautiful, but the color that fascinates me is the mysterious ( I hate to call it grey, that’s so blah) one that carves your plate out of the background. I want to be a fly on the wall and just watch you work!
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A friend of mine calls those “colours you can’t name”. I think that’s a good description, and it is usually made up of all the muck on the palette. With a bit of cobalt blue added to it.
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