Wild Blueberries - SOLD

Wild Blueberries ~SOLD (Somebody Liked This!)

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on canvas   
$72 (gallery-wrapped canvas, no frame needed)

While hiking up Mount Kearsarge (see Kearsarge Near the Top II), these were one of the little treats along the way.  Lowbush blueberries are everywhere along the trail in various stages of ripening.  For a small nature painting, I was surprised at the variety of paint colors I needed to reach for.  Usually I'm using about four colors plus white.  For this one, however, I added an additional three tubes to my palette.

Beginning sketch in pthalo blue.

I washed the canvas with a warm pink 

and then drew the paint sketch in with 

diluted pthalo blue which leans a little green.  

I didn't want to forget where my darkest darks 

were going to be, so I went a little heavier with 

the brush on the darkest spots. 

Basic colors indicated, but quite flat yet.

The next step was laying in some basic colors and getting placement of values without a lot of fuss. The colors are quite chalky and the details are undeveloped.  Either there's been a frost, or those greens are going to need a bit of work to make them look a little more lively, don't you think?  Except for the initial placement layers, the greens were actually one of the last set of mixtures I attended to.  

Upshift in progress...

Every painting seems to enter a transitional zone where it's either going to upshift and become a real painting or it's going to stall out and just turn into a real pain.  During this stage, I'm reshaping some areas, defining edges, and pushing some unnecessary elements backward so they recede. Color, at this point, becomes more definite and refined.  The blues and pinks get their glow on, and finally, those greens warm up and come alive.  That unripe blueberry in the northeast corner is calling too much attention to itself and needs to take a seat in the back with a subtle color wash that is going to neutralize it.

A real painting!

Nearly there.   A few minor adjustments to the foliage and some rusty reds will bump up the volume on the greens and make them look greener.  The darkest darks in the underbrush need to go a little darker to push the important bits forward.  Finally, the highlights create eye candy on the most reflective surfaces... and we have a real painting.