Fearless Friday, Painted Fruit with Simple Strokes

the Painted Apron

3 years ago

I have been in a glass painting mood lately

Today we’re going to paint

watermelon, lemons, and limes

with just a few simple strokes

If you can paint a triangle, you’re all set!

For watermelon I use white, pink and a touch of red for the fruit

and yellow and green for the rind

To paint the watermelon,

load your brush with pink, white, and red

by dipping your brush in pink, then white,

then a touch of red, then back to pink

Loading your brush with several colors

allows the colors to mix as they’re applied

which adds shadows and interest

Using a medium round brush,

make angled one stroke, then another,

to form the sides of the triangle

Add a stroke across the bottom and fill in the center

Let it dry then make a swoosh with light yellow green for the rind

Then a darker swoosh of green on top of the yellow green

letting a strip of yellow green show

between the pink and the darker green,

forming the rind

Dip the tip of a brush handle into black

and add “seeds” with black dots

Paint a pitcher or some glasses to use for summer dining!

For the lemons and limes make three strokes

of white/yellow or white/yellow-green

to look like the sections of the citrus

I always keep a sheet of tin foil near my palette

because it’s slick like glass

I use it to test the colors and practice the strokes

before I apply them

Place 3 of these strokes together, one standing straight,

then one on each side at a slight angle

Then add a bottom swoosh stroke of yellow or green for the rind

You can also a paint citrus fruit slices

by painting round light yellow, orange and green shapes

Outline them with the darker rind color

and add suggestions of sections with small lines

On the pitcher below

I painted slices and also whole lemons and limes

For the finishing touch add dots to represent the seeds

I painted these glasses to use with watermelon and citrus plates

Paint a lemon pitcher for your lemonade!

Special Tips for Glass Painting

Always use a curable paint that is made for painting on glass. Curable means after the paint has dried for 24 hours, it is baked in the oven to make the glass safe for washing and top rack dishwasher safe. I use a Folk Art glass enamel available on Amazon here. It is not food safe so only use it on the edges of plates and platters if using for food
Practice your strokes on a piece of tin foil as it is slick like glass or ceramics
Keep a rag, Q-tips and clean water near by in case you make a mistake, you can wipe the paint right off before it dries and try again
Make dots by using the tip of the brush handle and dip it in paint then dab it on the surface. You can also use the eraser end of a pencil for larger dots
Use a lazy Susan to easily access all sides of the object you are painting