Copper and Lemons

 I just got this back from the framer today, so I thought I might feature it here. Lets start with a sketch:

I posterised the image of the set-up, and used the reduced colour range to scribble in the colours and values, using this swatch.

Now I chose a different swatch for the lemons.

And for the jug.

Using both those swatches to select a sub-set of pastels, I painted over the underpainting of hard pastels with soft sticks from Schminke and Sennelier mainly.

The colander was next in line.

I added Blue Earth to the pastel sticks for this section, as shown above. A nice range of browns, earths, ochres, all contribute to a realistic copper pan.

All that remains is the kettle - and of course the background, which is Schminke neutral grays.

Copper and Lemons, 45 x 39 cms. © Niall O'Neill. P.S.A.