20 Artists Magazine January/February 2020
Build TUTORIAL
POMEGRANATES STILL LIFE IN OIL
1
On a gesso board, I drew the
composition with vine charcoal. The
pomegranates have pronounced ridges,
so drawing them helps to render the
planes between the ridges.2
I coated the surface of the
pomegranates using a palette knife
loaded with a thick mixture of cadmium
yellow deep, vermilion and stil de grain
brown for a base coat. Once that was
dry, I used these brilliant colors to
cover the areas that will become
carefully rendered clusters of seeds on
the split-open pomegranate. I switched
from a knife to brushes and painted the
shadows with raw umber diluted with
paint thinner.3
The local colors of the napkin
are a combination of white,
yellow ochre, raw umber and black.
I continued filling in the tabletop area
with a mixture of chromium oxide
green, lemon yellow and white.4
I began rendering each
pomegranate, one at a time,
indicating the shadows on the fruit with
stil de grain brown and rose madder.5
I painted the light areas using a
mixture of cadmium yellow deep,
vermilion, rose madder, stil de grain
brown and white. After painting the
crown-like calyx with brushes, I incised
the stamen cluster with the blade of my
painting knife. I also scraped some
parts of the fruit with the knife to reveal
the golden undertone.6
I used the same mixture of
cadmium yellow deep, vermilion,
rose madder, stil de grain brown and
white to paint the surface of the
second, colorful pomegranate peel.