Might as well, can't dance, too fat to fly

[Wayne Gaudon]

apples .. this is my second attempt and I'm not very happy with it. I seem to be not having as much fun as I'm attempting to get more realistic than I want to. I don't think it has as much to do with the result as it does with the way I get there. I hate to fuss and that seems to be taking over. I'll do it again but using a different approach.

I do have a question though.
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/04-Feb-2006/5946-apples1.jpg

I was having trouble getting the color of the apple in the light. So I bought another apple, same kind, and I mixed my paint according to it. I actually painted my color on the apple and got a dang good match. However, when I made the painting the colors just did not look right. I realize there is a little different light on the display but it should not be that much of a difference that the green and red did not look right. I then added some yellow and a few other options and the colors seemed ok. Can under a light make that much of a difference because it actually doesn't look like that much of a difference between the apple in my hand and the one in the display when I look at it from a distance.

[Wayne Gaudon]

Here is version 2 .. I moved the apples to change the lighting on them taking the back one out of the full shade it was in.
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/04-Feb-2006/5946-apples2.jpg

[James or Jimmy Jim]

Apples are cheap models.

I prefer the second one Wayne, better drawn and bolder.

I like the reflected colour too.

[pinkrybns]

2nd one, much better! more expressive..seems to have accomplished what you wanted in the end, not to mention "without fuss" the apples are more comfortable in their surroundings in the 2nd one.

:)

[Robert]

I like them apples, Wayne.

[Dharma_bum]

Wayne---I like the color in the second painting better too. I've found that sometimes if the color of the background is a little off, it will affect the perceived color of the subject too, though that may not be the case here. And yes, the quality of the light can make a difference too, if that which illuminates the subject and the palette/canvas is not the same.

Dan

[JamieWG]

Wayne, I too prefer the second version. On the first, I found it confusing and couldn't feel where the light was coming from, nor what created the shadow. The light source is a little clearer on the second, and that molds the fruit better in space. I'd like to see more with emphasis on the light and shadow. I can envision that with your expressive technique, those would really pop.

I agree with you that true apple color can take a lot of tweaking to get quite right. I tried doing it without alizarin many times because I don't generally keep that on my palette, but in the end I always had to add a permanent alizarin to my lineup to make the mixes work.

Also, the color on my brush/palette often does look different once it hits the canvas and I need to adjust! Annoys me every time. LOL

Jamie

[Wyn Easton]

Hi Wayne,

You've hit upon something, in your first post, that we might want to discuss.
When I was first starting to go outside, I read something here on WC that I didn't understand. Someone was talking about trying to match the colors they saw out in the landscape. They told of a student that wanted to get the color of a tree trunk correct. The student took his palette over to the tree and matched the color exactly. The note went on to say that of course it didn't work without explaining why it didn't work for the student.
I remember thinking "why not?". If he matched it exactly, that color must be correct. It was only after many failed paintings, that I started to figure-out why that didn't work for the student. I know now that the color didn't work for the student because the color he mixed had no relation to his painting.
It didn't have the correct relationship to the other colors in his painting.
When we see something from life and try to make a painting from it, it is the relationships of the colors in the painting that count, not if we have matched a color exactly, but how that color relates to the others we have in the painting. That insight has been one of those "ah ha!" moments for me. It let me worry more about how the painting worked and less about if I've matched exactly the right color of what I'm looking at. I'm not saying that I don't try to get the colors correct, I do, but I also try to get the relationships correct to the ones in the painting.

[Wayne Gaudon]

Thank you all very much for your time and efforts .. the explanations for true color seem very rational and as nature is always in harmony they have to be true. It seems from your explanations and loginc, it's the light affecting the other colors (intermingling if you will) that gives us our perceived color. Very interesting .. funny thing about it was on my palette the colors were mixed correctly but on the canvas they didn't seem the same .. that threw me but now it all makes sense. It was the color in the distance I needed not the color in hand.

Later, and again, thank you all for your help and comments.