How to Paint Luscious Cherries in Watercolor

Steps

Part 1

Setting Up Your Subject

1. 1

   Purchase a handful of ripe cherries from the store. Pick through to find perfect ones at their prime. They come in a variety of colors, from yellow, to bright orange-red, to deep maroon. Select what appeals to you or get an assortment of colors. Search for cherries that still have their stems. If a leaf isn’t attached, do your online research to see how they are shaped, their color and their size compared to the round fruit.

2. 2

   Set up your still life arrangement. Place the objects you intend to paint close to where you will be working. You will need to see your subject clearly, up close and in good light.

3. 3

   Keep the cherries as the central theme since they are the subject. Include, however, an extra item or two to add interest to the arrangement. For example; an interesting bowl or container. Glass will have the bonus of being transparent so you can paint what you see through it. Silver or other metallic objects will be reflective, and the reflections will add an eclectic touch to the work.

4. 4

   Put the cherries on a white or other plain cloth. Bunch and swirl the cloth slightly to add interesting folds. These folds can act as lines to lead the viewer’s eye through the painting. Keeping the cloth simple will insure that focus remains on the fruit.

Part 2

Planning and Sketching

1. 1

   Set up your watercolor paints. Any type or style is fine; dry pads or tube colors squeezed onto a clean palette.

2. 2

   Obtain a sheet of 140# watercolor paper. Use a page from a watercolor pad or a quarter sheet (approximately 11” X 14”) of good watercolor paper. Select an array of watercolor brushes, including small, medium and large pointed ones, a soft watercolor mop or wash brush, a ¾ inch flat, angled style, and a liner brush. Use a deli container filled with water for activating and diluting colors and rinsing your brush. Have tissues or paper towels handy.

3. 3

   Sketch your design lightly. Start with the cherries as circles, keeping them life size. Cluster and overlap some but allow a few stray ones to be apart from the central mass. The stems ought to go off in many directions. Add leaves to fill blank spots or at the edges of the cluster of cherries. If adding a dish or vase, sketch it in.

4. 4

   Plan how to make the two dimensional circles appear realistic, rounded and plump.

   Highlights will help, so on each cherry draw a small circle for the highlight to be left unpainted. If desired save the white of the paper by using a drop of masking fluid or frisket. Or, simply plan to paint around the small light spots.

   • A second way to give the illusion of roundness on the cherries is by controlling the light falling on the objects. Decide which direction the light is coming from and be consistent as you paint the objects. Keep the side nearest the light source lighter, almost to the point of looking washed out, than the opposite side. If you can’t actually see such dramatic light, fake it.

Part 3

Painting the Cherries

1. 1

   Wet a few of the circles for cherries, preserving the highlight by keeping the spot dry to resist paint. Charge your brush with paint and touch it to the side in shadow, or the side away from the light source. The water will carry the color over the entire cherry shape. The richest deposit of color will be on the shadow side, with the color diluted and lighter on the opposite side. Add another touch of red paint on the dark side. Remember to make the strokes semi-circular to mimic the round shape of the cherry.

2. 2

   Paint some of the cherry shapes without wetting them first. Again, work to get three values of red on each cherry; the palest pink on the light side, mid-tones and the darkest, richest color on the shadow side.

3. 3

   While wet, paint cast shadows. Pull a tiny, rounded shape of color down from the cherry to form a subtle shadow. Do this in one swish of the brush and don’t try to alter or edit the shadow. Try to have it connected to the cherry at one point. If the red from the cherry is too bright for a shadow, dab it lightly with a tissue to lighten it. Or add a tiny touch of green to neutralize and gray it.

4. 4

   Paint leaves the same way. Wet some leaves and work others on dry paper. Use a variety of greens; ranging from yellow-green, to dark green. Again, keeping three values of green. While wet, scratch in the vein pattern with the sharp edge of an old plastic credit card or paint the veins with a tiny, pointed brush. Do the central vein first as a wavy line to give the illusion that the leaf is alive, curving and twisting slightly. Or, do a combination of both techniques and do the tributary veins coming off the main one.

5. 5

   Look carefully at the cherries' stems. They are slightly fatter at the far end and ideally will appear as three values of brown. Angle them in all directions. Allow to piece to dry.

Part 4

Adding Details and Background

1. 1

   Work on the cloth under the cherries. Using a pencil, indicate lines where the fabric flows out from beneath the cherries. Add an interesting edging to the drape, if desired. Paint shadows in the cloth with diluted, neutral brown or gray. Soften one edge by running a line of water along the gray shadow.

2. 2

   Draw a jar, or bowl.

   To give the illusion of a silver container, paint along the object's edges in shades of gray. Show some reflections. Red cherries, green leaves and stems might be reflected, but to give the illusion of distance, do only one or two of the reflected cherries realistically and have others fade away appearing as loose spots.

   • To indicate that the container is glass, show hints of the colors and shapes that are behind it. Again, paint the glass only at the object's edges. Allow the piece to dry.

3. 3

   If you wish to add a background, do it at this point. Put a contrasting color or deep neutral in the space above the drape. Again, let the painting dry.

4. 4

   Add final touches. Use a liner brush or a small pointed brush loaded with a dark shade of paint. Analyze what needs to be accented within the cherry grouping, leaves and vessel. Draw these dark lines with a fine, pointed brush. Keep the drawn lines to a minimum and try not to outline whole shapes.

5. 5

   Again, prop up the painting, step back and study it. Let it dry overnight and study it from a distance again. Do touch ups again, but, keep them minimal.

6. 6

   Hang up your painting. It will remind you of the beauty of nature all year long.

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Tips

• Try not to overwork the piece. Less is really more when it comes to trying for a watercolor illusion of cherries.
• To lift out excess water or color use a clean, damp brush on a wet area. This is a good technique for restoring highlights or light edges. Just use your brush and swipe up excess paint.
• Avoid dabbing with a tissue as that often removes too much color.
• Keep the ellipses at the mouth and bottom edge of the jar or bowl consistent. Check, also that the curvature of the sides of the vessel are in agreement. Make corrections if needed.

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