Your class project is to create a watercolor featuring a four orange arrangement. Photo reference of my oranges to the right of the screen. Look for 'OrangesPhoto.jpg'

MATERIALS:

100% cotton watercolor paper.
Brushes: #8 or calligraphy brush or round, #4 brush round, 00 Pointer brush or rigger line brush.
Paint: Cadmium Orange, Burnt Umbre, Quinacridone Magenta, and Ultramarine Blue.
Paper towel.
Water jar or cup.
Palette for mixing.
You! :)

GETTING STARTED:

Premix the four colors (Cadmium Orange, Burnt Umber, Quinacridone Magenta, and Ultramarine Blue) on the palette and have them ready. This is very important! Always pre-mix your paint!

Once you sketch out the four assorted fruit, you can begin with a simple wash of cadmium orange on the paper. Remember to save some white of the page! Scumble your brush in a horizontal position to scrape across the surface. This will leave a little white behind for some shine. While the orange you laid down on the first fruit is still wet use burnt umber on the right side to give it a shadow effect. Feel free to use a touch of magenta on the top to add some three dimensionality.

Use the same technique on the other four oranges.

For the shadows in the background, use magenta closer to the oranges and ultramarine blue further away. For the parts very close to the fruit, use burnt umber (not cadmium orange) for the shadows as the color orange does not mix well with blue. It will end up a funny green if you do! If the shadow slowly fades you can use a clean brush with plain water to pull the paint and soften the edges.

Time for more shadows! Go back to the fruit and use Burnt Umber and Magenta (Not blue) to create a very dark mixture. 70% Burnt Umber/30% Magenta that is almost pure paint. Use a shadow closest to the underside of the oranges to create the shadows, then use a clean damp brush to soften the edges.

For darker shadows on the cloth, use Burnt Umber and Magenta closer to the fruit.

If your fruit is not vibrant enough you can always add another layer of Cadmium Orange and a touch of Magenta. Tap your brush to give a dimpled effect of the surface of the oranges. Add the details with the darkest dark mentioned above.

Sign your work and you are done!

Fran Dun

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