Grapes Durand... cont.

A bit of color to kill the white background really makes a difference, doesn't it? Again, I'm working with the same palette pigments I've used from the beginning, MG maroon pereylene, permanent alizarin, Winsor (phthalo) blue, new gambogue, and a touch of Winsor (phthalo) green. Using my blues and reds I created varying shades of lavender-greys, using stronger strengths for darker areas, then glazing over each plane of the crystal bowl with a weaker strength. This will happen several times to build up shades. For the background I wet the entire negative shape, then added my lavender, phthalo blue, new gamboge in areas and moved the paper to allow it to mix on its own in the area. When I liked the coverage, I was careful to wick away any excess moisture so it wouldn't dry unevenly. For the table top, I always mix my browns using whatever red, blue and yellow that I'm using in the painting. Adding a bit more blue will produce a burnt umber, adding a bit more red/yellow will produce a more raw umber and playing with the formula you can simulate walnut to cherry wood.