Orchard Apples
10" x 8"
oil on linen
I chose the different kinds of apples for their varied colors, because although this painting is about light, I wanted it to feel colorful. Creating light on canvas with oil paint often involves sacrificing color because adding white makes color less saturated. However, using color temperature along with value can achieve not only more colorful paintings, but also pretty dramatic light effects. It might be a little difficult to see in the photo, but the brightest highlights that seem white are actually clearly identifiable colors when you look closely. The dark red apple's highlight is cobalt blue, the bright red's is viridian and the bottom apple has a cool pink highlight. Since the temperature of the color in the highlight is cooler and has a dramatic value contrast to the local color of each apple, they read as bright light reflections that are more interesting than simply white.
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