Lesson 126
The strawberry
The lessons that follow deal with fruit motifs, cross sections of fruits and flowers on a series of plates.
The plates that we have chosen measure 320mm in width. The motif that we are going to paint now in the right two thirds of the plate is the Strawberry fruit and its cross section.
Tracings are available in our shop online.
Draw the motif with a graphite pencil.
The leaves are painted as usual in halves. Start painting them in chrome green with a brush Raphael series 8404 N°2 and then shade them with a mixture of 80% chrome green and 20% black.
The veins are painted with the above mixture and a brush series 8413 N°2. Clean the brush in turpentine and wipe before removing colour along the centre of each nerve.
Apply masking liquid around the strawberries.
The fruit: Apply the following colours with a brush series 8404 N°4 on the strawberries:
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Pompadour red on the left side of the fruit for shade.,
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Yellow red in the centre,
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A small spot of silver yellow on the top right side which is less exposed to the sun and therefore less mature. Do not apply too much yellow as it tends to absorb the other colours..
Sponge the colours well, especially at the junction where they meet.
The cross section of the fruit: Apply Pompadour red along the periphery and yellow red all over except the centre with a brush series 8404 N°4. Sponge well all over. The centre will be very light. With a brush series 8404 N°00 cleaned in turpentine and lightly dried, remove colour to isolate the central portion and draw the white "fibres" that radiate on either side of the fruit.
Add some Pompadour red to the centre of the fruit.
Remove the masking film.
The sepals of the calyx are painted with a mixture of 1/3 chrome green and 2/3 silver yellow.
Allow the paint to dry.
With a toothpick remove paint in tiny oval shaped forms on the fruit. Apply a drop of yellow in the centre with a brush series 8413 N°2.
Fire at 820°C
As usual the yellow has absorbed the red necessitating a second layer of colour.
Retouching:
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Apply Pompadour red on the yellow zones to reduce its intensity and sponge lightly.
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Prepare a mixture of chrome green and a drop of black to outline the sepals of the calyx on both the fruits and the cross section and allow to dry.
If during the process of retouching, some of the seeds have been covered, remove colour with a toothpick.
Each yellow seed is encircled with Pompadour red for the lighter parts and Pompadour red mixed with a drop of black for the shaded parts as shown alongside.
Fire at 800°C
