30/30 Challenge - Huge Solitary Lemon - Day 21-22

Well, it's now day 21 and I'm still on track. Have to say that I've been feeling a little bit of resistance mostly because I want to put more time planning before starting a painting, but if I've established a new habit of painting everyday, then I won't feel defeated no matter what the outcome. The daily posting to the hosting blog is probably the most challenging to accomplish in this exercise because of the time limit on when posting is closed for any given day.

Day 21

Why this lemon?? Well, I've seen a lot of lemons, but none the size of a large orange!! This has to be the largest lemon ever - it's skin wasn't smooth and yet it wasn't very thick either. Just seems so unusual, but then I don't get to see them growing in their natural environment. Never the less, it wanted to be painted, right?

Once again with reflected light. The light source is again at the top, like high noon. I'm trying to keep most things consistent to see if I notice the color nuances more easily with fewer variables except for the main object.


Day 22

Decided to paint this record breaking lemon again with another light angle so I didn't get the halo effect on the table top-and a few minor changes in the setup. Lemon turned, changed the color of the table top, and added some greenery.

Still working on reflected lighting which is a huge challenge for me, but lots of fun trying. Also limited the time to complete so I don't think so much about the decisions.

Tip: This may seem obvious to you, but it wasn't readily apparent to me. The metaphor that comes to mind here is I 'couldn't see the forest for the trees.' Even when I squint, I've found that I'm noticing too much information when I begin a painting so I've decided to work with a setup from a greater distance so I don't see so much detail. If I need to see some more specific detail, I'll just walk up closer to see it. I think this will certainly help me see larger shapes first...