Crabapples Painting by Guy McIntosh

Every spring the Crab Apple tree in the front yard fills with beautiful blooms. I look forward to it every year. I really wanted to paint them soon, but instead I waited until the blooms died off and the pods became little apples.

The tree makes a tremendous transformation, which the squirrels and deer love. These little gems are so saturated with color, one can't help but to try to capture it somehow, even tho I know it is impossible. I just want to get close to the feeling they send out.

So, I snipped off a little random bunch and brought it into the studio and lit it in my little still life box stage with an overhead light.

Steps to the crab apple still life.
After prepping the panel with gesso and marble dust:

• The drawing in pencil gave me the design and tonal values; sort of. 
• Sealed the pencil.
• Toned the panel with a golden yellow mix of yellow ochre and primary yellow.
• Full tone burnt umber monochrome under-painting, to really get the light direction and set the mood.
• Laid in the darkest dark, which is the background and some shadows to integrate to piece.
• Added the grisaille onto the apples, keeping the tone a little lighter than true value.
• Color layers upon layers. 
• Colors used: Burnt Umber, Black, Primary Yellow, Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Red Medium.
• Go back and sharpen and blur edges
• Hit your darks again
• Finally your brightest bright. It doesn't have to be white.

Below are the progression pics.

I really wish it all came down to that. But there are corrections all along the way. As usual things never work out as planned so we work out a balance between what we plan and what is getting close to the vision. Sometimes things work out even better than the original idea. Sometimes not so much.


Spring was in the air.

Below is a shot of the blooms and then the painting. Acrylic 6x8 on panel. Unframed.

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