Friday Fun... groceries are not just for eating

I'm starting a new thing... On Friday's I'm going to publish some of the "idea sparklers" from my weekly newsletter. These are painting ideas for you to use in your own work. Happy Friday! 


Groceries are not just for eating.... (published November 2010)
There is a terrific small seasonal market about 15 minutes from the house called The Market Basket. (Right next door to the Cherry Hut) There's always bushels of seasonal fruit and veggies outside the store to entice you to stop. (They also happen to have the best shortcake biscuits)
I stopped yesterday to check out their selection of gourds and pumpkins and I wasn't disappointed. I also got a couple branches of bittersweet! Beautiful stuff.



So last night, in my sketchbook... I decided to lay out some compositions using my purchased bounty.

This first one, I began with a red pencil and did a blind contour drawing, then corrected the wonky lines and filled in with my small watercolor kit and more colored pencil work. Kind of fun... just a warm up, and the yellow gourd looks like a pear. oops.


In sketch #2 I've adjusted the arrangement and added a crow. I've never painted a crow, and will have to look at some reference images to make it more crow-like, but this is just a sketch. I'm just trying play around with placement and composition and brain storming.


I like this idea a bit better... Not the colors... but the idea.  Note that I've grown the yellow "pear" gourd a little larger. I think I'll run with this idea in an acrylic painting or acrylic collage. It just might be the painting for next week!

So, have a good look at your groceries when you bring them home. Even if you didn't purchase just for painting, like I did... You might find some interesting still life subjects.

Now, I'm off to look for crows....