Still Life: Apple Study

Last night was another class night (Last one until the beginning of the new year). So, back to still working on the basics, I worked on a similar apple that I am doing at home. Nice part is, since it was class time, I was able to ask for some suggestions about issues that I'm having with my current painting.

So, as you can tell, it's a very similar apple, in terms of shape. The shadows are different. While I was working on the basic massing, my first issue was to determine the relative brightnesses of the objects. I had the table brighter than the apple, but darker than the background. After some squinting, I realized that the table was darker than the apple such that the edge of the apple produces a lost edge on both sides of the apple.

So, after getting the general relative values done correctly, the next step was to go through the basics:

1) Mass in the lightest area (done)

2) Mass in the darkest area (done)

3) Mass in the reflected light (not done at home)

4) Add the darkest area in the shadow side (not done at home)

5) Add the highlights (not done at home).

So, the part that I was having trouble with at home, rounding out the shadow side, was due to the fact that I hadn't massed in the reflected light. Just the massing in the dark/light areas is not enough to produce the roundness of the apple.

So, once I finished all of the steps, the apple, that I did in class, looks pretty good. Now, I just need to remember to finish through with the steps on the one that I'm working on at home.