Single Pear by Leslie D’Allesandro Hawes (c)
Derwent Artists colored pencil on mat board
This is my drawing for the October Virtual Sketch Date. This months reference photo was provided by Belinda Lindhardt. Thanks, Belinda for the great photo!
The Derwent Artists colors that I used for this drawing are: chinese white, zinc yellow, emerald green, copper beech, raw sienna, orange chrome, and imperial purple.
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#1. I first sketched the pear with chinese white. The drawing board is 9″ x 7″, with the pear being 6″ x 5″. It is larger than my other Virtual Sketch Date drawings, but the pear in the photo begged to be drawn bigger than usual.
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#2. I continued with chinese white in more area of the pear, sketched in some shape to the pear stem with copper beech, and started adding zinc yellow.
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#3. I used zinc yellow in a light layer over the entire pear, and then began creating shadow on the right side of the pear with copper beech. The copper beech color over the yellow layer gave that area a more ‘orange’ tone than if copper beech was the only color. I colored a spot of emerald green at the top left of the pear, for no particular reason, other than I was anxious to see if green changed the overall impression of the pear being ‘green’. I thought it did.
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#4. More yellow is layered, as is chinese white to intensify the highlight at the top of the pear, and copper beech to define the right side of the pear.
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#5. More layers of zinc yellow are added, drawing in the direction of the shape of the pear. More chinese white defines the shape and bottom reflection. Imperial purple helps define the bottom right shadow, and the bottom line of the pear.
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#6. This is the finished pear. It is the same picture as at the top of the page, but the picture at the top is left enlarged to more easily see the pencil strokes. I added more layers of zinc yellow, and defined the pear shape with emerald green on the left side, and around the top part of the pear shape. Just a touch of orange chrome on the ‘cheek’ on the right mid-side of the pear. I added one overall layer of raw sienna to tie all the colors together, and on the right side of the pear. Then I signed it.
Leslie
That is beautiful Leslie. I’m in awe of the luminosity you achieve
Comment by Melissa Muirhead — October 24, 2008 @ 6:23 pm
All the stages are beautiful – #3 is particularly ethereal. They are lovely, Leslie.
Comment by Minx — October 25, 2008 @ 12:00 am
Wow Leslie! Lovely delicate drawing – thanks for the step by step!
Comment by Kay Susan — October 25, 2008 @ 12:42 am
Hi Leslie, excellent drawing and thanks for the stages. I’m still a bit wary of drawing on coloured paper but think I must try this now. So thanks for the inspiration and lovely pear
)
Comment by Andy — October 25, 2008 @ 1:06 am
another great sketch (its more of a finished drawing then a sketch. Too nice not to be). The pear seems to glow
Comment by Jennifer Rose — October 25, 2008 @ 1:07 am
Really nice drawing Leslie. It just glows with colour. And great to see the progress shots too.
Comment by Jeanette — October 25, 2008 @ 5:20 am
Thank you for sharing your creative process! Great job.
Comment by Barbara Weeks — October 25, 2008 @ 9:44 am
Leslie, I love that you focused on this one pear. And I love the colors you have in it! It looks so crisp. Another great entry!
Comment by Stacy Rowan — October 25, 2008 @ 6:35 pm
Great entry, and the step by step was wonderful. I wondered how you got such great coverage over the mat board! Fantastic!
Comment by Linda M — October 25, 2008 @ 7:14 pm
Wow, lovely. I forgot about this, this time and I love to draw pears. Shucks. You have an excellent play by play as well. Hugs.
Comment by Jo Castillo — October 25, 2008 @ 8:06 pm
Leslie, this is lovely. Delicate and so expertly done – even the stem is great! And it’s very nice of you to do the step by step – there are a lot of aspiring artists out there who appreciate it – me included.
Comment by Regina — October 25, 2008 @ 9:40 pm
This is so nice. The one pear makes such a lovely subject. Nice interpretation.
Comment by Jan — October 26, 2008 @ 5:19 am
One fine pear and a great tutorial. Again thanks for your help with this fun vsd challenge
Comment by shicat — October 26, 2008 @ 6:35 am
Excellent shine and color gradation! Good enough to eat…
Comment by sharon — October 26, 2008 @ 4:15 pm
Wow Leslie, this is just gorgeous
i love your style!
Comment by Belinda Lindhardt — October 26, 2008 @ 4:28 pm
They look good enough to eat and I don’t even like pears so very much. Damn, you’re good, my friend.
Comment by Ian Lidster — October 27, 2008 @ 10:22 am
I love how you used the blue paper for your midtone, very effective!
Great WIP, I really do have to try a drawing on coloured paper.
Comment by Paulette — October 28, 2008 @ 8:02 am
My mouth is waterin’ for some pear preserves!
Gotta get me some Pear Preserves!
Comment by bulletholes — October 28, 2008 @ 1:52 pm
I was very impressed by your dexterity, Leslie,and the softness of your colours.
Comment by Sylviane — October 28, 2008 @ 2:19 pm
I love this.
Of course the color catches my eye first, and I love the way the pear looks on the blue……
Also love the light/shadows, and the speckles……………
Very nice.
Comment by Vicki in Michigan — October 28, 2008 @ 6:56 pm
Wow!
I am so behind in responding to comments on this post, I am going to just do this one reply, to all of you lovely people, and say thank you, thank you, thank you.
I love doing the Virtual sketch Date drawings. It’s fun for me to be given and “assignment” of what to draw, and free rein with how to interpret it.
If you haven’t yet tried the Virtual Sketch Date, give it a try.
Thank you, Belinda for providing the photo for reference.
All the pears in the grocery store now look like art projects to me.
Comment by leslie — October 30, 2008 @ 9:13 am
Wow, I love it! You have done a beautiful job – I also thoroughly enjoy seeing the stages too.
Kx
Comment by Kari Gibson — November 1, 2008 @ 3:01 am