Daily Painting – A Little Pear and a Tonal Throwback
Hi everyone!
Today’s piece is a small acrylic on canvas panel — a simple pear that brought back one of my favourite old habits from my oil-painting days.
After finally getting my new canvas panels from the art shop, I went back to a technique I used to do all the time in oils: a tonal underpainting in burnt sienna + medium. It maps out form and value first, and that warm undertone peeks through beautifully once colour goes on.
sketching it out first DOES help... and we ALL know that my failure with acrylics is painting too thin.... mostly because i used to do underpainting and glazes with oils and they ARE different creatrues. i forget this...
The Underpainting Stage
now Usually i would spend an age agonizing over this... getitng it right for glazes... but... its a daily painting so who cares.. lol... 10 mins tops to sketch it in.
I blocked in the pear and shadow with burnt sienna, thinned with medium, then touched in a little white to lift the lightest areas. This stage always makes the colour layers faster and calmer — the structure’s already sorted.
Just because i DO put effort into these posts... i have gone and pulled out older paintings for you to confirm i DO actually do this and am not making up shit for the blog... lol
Colours Used
Greens: Chromium Green Oxide and Phthalo Green (sue me i like them)
Yellows: Cadmium Yellow for light transitions (ok and the neutrals)
Blues: Mostly Cobalt Blue in the mixes, with Ultramarine for transparent shadow glazes
Neutrals: Raw Umber and Burnt Umber
Highlights / Glaze: Titanium White, then a whisper of transparent yellow glaze to soften the brightest spots
i like a good glaze i do...
It took about an hour all up (including the underpainting). Once that base was down, the rest fell into place quickly.
Finished Painting
A simple pear, but I love the soft glow — that sienna base gives warmth even if you can;t sEE it..
if i go back and fix this, i will knock the line in the shadows down a bit, it is too hard.. shadow to the shadow side of the pear should be more " fuzzy"
Life Lately
Miss 6 is still home sick — temp down to about 38°C but she’s too miserable for school. Husband’s home early and we’re trying to get the lawns done; after all these storms the grass is knee-high at the edges — prime brown snake territory — so it needs doing.
Anyway, that’s today’s little study. Thanks for reading and happy painting!
– BLINGIT
