Day 12: Citrus Revisited

On day 12, I posted an unfinished painting of citrus. I really wanted to complete the painting and today I got that chance.

I had started the painting over a week ago and it was dry. I learned from Ken Yarus in the workshop last week that if a person wants to continue painting on a dry canvas, just rub a very, very light coat of linseed oil (or walnut oil) over the painting. That somehow binds the coming layer of oil to the existing layer.

The biggest changes were to the backdrop, with the addition of blue stripes to the white bands and adding the creases and fold marks. I modeled the citrus with more light and shadows. I darkened most of the deepest shadows.

The benefit in letting a painting dry between sessions became very apparent to me. Up until now, I’ve only painted wet on wet. This time I could get a beautiful orange tone on my orange and even get a little red in the shaded area. It had been turning muddy in my previous session as I kept reworking it. One can only do so much of that. The bane of all painters in all media—knowing when to stop before one ruins the freshness.

Below is the painting before the additional work today.