Fearless Friday, Olive Oil

the Painted Apron

6 years ago

I have had fun trying out new techniques

as well as challenging myself with different subject matter lately

This photograph from Unsplash caught my eye,

it is so full of color and light

I did a pencil sketch first to establish the positions of the bottles,

I didn’t photo the sketching process,

but let me assure you, there was erasing involved 😂

When I finished I went over it with a waterproof .01 fineliner

and erased the pencil sketch

I did not include every single bottle, and simplified the labels

As the artist, you can decide what you want to include or eliminate

I began with the oil carafe on the far right,

giving it a couple of washes with Quinacridone Gold, my new favorite color

It’s sort of a combination of yellow, ochre and raw sienna

It’s a great addition to your palette

You can get it on Amazon here

I began adding washes to the bottles,

with a variety of greens {sap, Hooker’s green, leaf green}

and yellows {lemon, New Gambouge}

working my way from right to left

On some of the bottles

I deliberately outlined areas I wanted to remain white for highlights

I used layers of washes to build up and deepen the colors

I began to add more color and a few details to the labels

For the olive jars, I painted the dark areas surrounding the olives first

Then painted the olives with a mix of olive green {natch!} and Quinacridone Gold

The bottle caps had lighter areas for highlights

and colored shadows were added in front of the bottles

To finish I deepened the shadow areas in the front

and added a light bluish gray wash behind the bottles

“Ode to the Olive” 9″ x 12″ watercolor and ink, 140 lb. cold pressed paper

Try painting an everyday object and bring it to life!

Be Fearless!

Ode to the Olive is available as a tray, cutting board, coasters, mat,

and several sizes of prints in my Society 6 shop here

25% off today!

🍸 🎨 🍸

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