This project's challenge is to elevate fruit from something to snack on or make a pie from, to the centerpiece of a painting. Whether you place only one piece or a whole bowlful, only one type of fruit or a mixture, is up to you.
Things to consider:
• Choice of fruit: If you work slowly, it's better to use fruit that keeps well, such as apples and oranges, rather than something that'll ripen and change color, such as bananas or pears. (Or worse, something that'll get over-ripe and go moldy.) If you live somewhere really hot, it may be an idea to set the still life up so that you can easily put it in the fridge when you're not painting.
• Light source: What direction will the light come from – left, right, above, below, behind, or will the light be diffused so it doesn't cast strong shadows?
• Positioning: If you're using more than one piece of fruit, will they touch, overlap, sit on top of one another?
• Setting: Will you put the fruit be on a bare table, a decorative tray, on some drapery, a table cloth, or next to a napkin? On an imaginary background?
• Viewpoint: Is this directly from the front, at eye level, from the top, or from below?
• Framing: Will you paint the fruit from a distance, or extremely close up? Will they fill the canvas or be clustered in one corner?
As well as her more famous flowers, Georgia O'Keefe also painted fruit still lifes: "Plums, grapes, pears, alligator pears (avocados), and – over and over again – apples are set, in bowls or napkins or alone, against white backgrounds suggesting table linen. The rounded, simplified forms are clearly defined and modeled by subtle shading. The brush strokes are invisible and ambiguous, the surfaces voluptuously smooth ... [the] flat unshaded background serves to highlight, isolate, and dramatize the design."
(Quote Source: Georgia O'Keefe by Roxana Robinson, page 234.)
For those who really like a challenge: How about painting a portrait made up from fruit, in the style of the sixteenth-century artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo? He also used pots, pans, books, and tools to create faces. In his day his paintings were regarded as rather daft; in the 20th-century he was rediscovered by the Surrealists who enjoyed his visual puns. Take a look at these two examples of his work: Summer and Autumn.
Please note that new submissions for this project gallery are currently not being accepted. Check the list of monthly painting projects to see what this month's project is.
Things to consider:
• Choice of fruit: If you work slowly, it's better to use fruit that keeps well, such as apples and oranges, rather than something that'll ripen and change color, such as bananas or pears. (Or worse, something that'll get over-ripe and go moldy.) If you live somewhere really hot, it may be an idea to set the still life up so that you can easily put it in the fridge when you're not painting.
• Light source: What direction will the light come from – left, right, above, below, behind, or will the light be diffused so it doesn't cast strong shadows?
• Positioning: If you're using more than one piece of fruit, will they touch, overlap, sit on top of one another?
• Setting: Will you put the fruit be on a bare table, a decorative tray, on some drapery, a table cloth, or next to a napkin? On an imaginary background?
• Viewpoint: Is this directly from the front, at eye level, from the top, or from below?
• Framing: Will you paint the fruit from a distance, or extremely close up? Will they fill the canvas or be clustered in one corner?
As well as her more famous flowers, Georgia O'Keefe also painted fruit still lifes: "Plums, grapes, pears, alligator pears (avocados), and – over and over again – apples are set, in bowls or napkins or alone, against white backgrounds suggesting table linen. The rounded, simplified forms are clearly defined and modeled by subtle shading. The brush strokes are invisible and ambiguous, the surfaces voluptuously smooth ... [the] flat unshaded background serves to highlight, isolate, and dramatize the design."
(Quote Source: Georgia O'Keefe by Roxana Robinson, page 234.)
For those who really like a challenge: How about painting a portrait made up from fruit, in the style of the sixteenth-century artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo? He also used pots, pans, books, and tools to create faces. In his day his paintings were regarded as rather daft; in the 20th-century he was rediscovered by the Surrealists who enjoyed his visual puns. Take a look at these two examples of his work: Summer and Autumn.
Please note that new submissions for this project gallery are currently not being accepted. Check the list of monthly painting projects to see what this month's project is.