Here is my latest work – a still life of some tomatoes. I more or less used the same technique as with the pear from the other day and like the pear, I am overall pretty happy with the end result. My only complaint is that I think the tomato looks a little more like an apple than a tomato. In trying to figure out why I think that – I think it’s because I missed proportioned the shape just slightly – tomatoes are generally a little more round or squatty. I also missed on the shade of red just a tad. I should have added a little yellow since tomatoes are generally a warmer shade of red than apples.  

But all things considered I am happy with it. I feel like I am gaining some confidence in my color mixing skills and overall painting abilities. 

I tend to start each painting with a monochrome outline/value sketch which I may or may not allow to dry before covering it up with the actual painting. Below is the one for this painting. I almost always use burnt sienna for the under-painting but sometimes I use ultramarine blue or something else, depending if or how I might want small amounts of it to show through in the finished painting.