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***~Welcome to Andrea's Art Gallery~***
Online Lesson: Cherries Jubilee Follow along as I show you step-by-step how I paint from a photograph featuring shiny ripe cherries, a glass dish, shadows, and tarnished silver utensils. Just click the images to see them larger and see the details.
*You may copy all of the images on this page for the purpose of following the lesson, as long as you don't reproduce them in large quantities or sell them. All images on this page (c) Andrea Levasseur 2004.

This is the photo reference for the painting, taken by me. If you are following the lesson, you have my permission to print it out for your reference.	Sketch out your drawing on watercolor paper. I used 300lb, cold-pressed Arches, and I'm working on a full sheet (22"x30"). Here I'm showing the detail of this old silver serving fork and you can see my sketch is in the rough stages. I use a HB mechanical pencil and a kneaded eraser for mistakes.	This shows the detail of the silver serving spoon, which isn't very clear in the reference photograph.

It helps to have the actual objects to draw from, even if you have a good photograph. Here I'm getting the details right on the glass dish the cherries were in.	Here's the finished drawing, partially erased with the kneaded eraser so pencil lines don't show through the paint later.	Here's an additional practise drawing, if you want to learn how to paint cherries without risking mistakes on your good painting. I am going to use this to show you my method for painting cherries. If you like, you can use masking fluid to protect the reflection areas on the cherries and glass, I prefer to just paint around them.

First, mix a nice orange puddle from a mixture of Winsor Red and New Gamboge. It should be very watery and more yellow than red. See where my brush is to check the color.	The cherries in our ref photo have a yellow-red undertone so that's what we will start with. Working wet on dry, use your watery orange to underpaint all the cherries, leaving the white bits where the reflections are.	When the first layer of paint is dry, paint over them again just using New Gamboge still working wet on dry.

After the Last layer is completely dry, you will now start working wet-in-wet. Wet a cherry completely with plain water except where the highlights are. You will notice some cherries, especially those closest to the glass have a yellowish highlight that curves around the bottom of the cherry. Leave this part dry as well. Drop in a thick spot of Rose Madder (Alizarin Crimson would be a good substitute) and coax it around the wet areas	This is how it looks after the rose madder has filled in all the wet areas, leaving the highlight areas dry.	Before the paint dries completely, take a damp, clean brush and gently blend the edges around the yellow highlight areas to create soft edges. Do not blend around the white highlights, you want those edges left hard.

This is how the highlights should look when dry - the white highlight has hard edges while the yellow highlight has soft edges.	Continue in this manner with the rest of the cherries, softening the edges with a clean damp brush. Paint cherries that are spaced apart first so colors don't bleed from one cherry to the next. When these are dry, paint the cherries in between.	As you paint the cherries, paint the shadowy areas in between with a stronger shade of Rose Madder to give the illusion of depth.

You can add a bit of Winsor Green to the shadowy gaps between the cherries while the Rose Madder is still damp . Winsor Green and Rose Madder combine to make a nice soft black color. Be careful not to add too much green at this stage or it will be too dark.	After the previous step has dried completely, deepen the color of the cherries. Wet each cherry individually and drop in undiluted pigment of Rose Madder (or Alizarin Crimson), putting most of the color where the cherry is the darkest. As it begins to lose it's shine, blend the edges around the yellow highlight areas as before.	Use a little dab of Winsor Green to indicate the dimples where the stems used to be. Use a little Hooker's Green on the underside of the stem. Even after the paint is dry, you can still lift soft highlights by brushing gently with a clean, damp brush. The highlights should follow the roundness of the cherry to give it a convincing 3-dimentional round shape.

Once you have the color built up to the proper intensity, the small white highlights should give the sense that the cherries are smooth and shiny. The softer highlights further support that as they reflect the softer light from the cherries around them and the glass dish. The shadows beneath the cherries should make them "pop".	That's about all there is to painting cherries and other shiny round objects. Now that you know the technique, go ahead and paint all the cherries in your picture this way, paying attention to where the reflections are on each and what color & intensity they are.
		More to come soon!

*~Cherry Vinegar Cordial~*
This photo was taken June 29, 2004 when I was inspired by the bright red cherries and red currants I had marinating in large jars of vinegar to make cordial. I took the jars outside into the bright sunshine and arranged a few dishes of cherries and my grandmother's old silver, and the result is what you see here. I had never made cordial before, and the vinegar method sounded "iffey" to say the least... so I thought I'd at least get a pretty picture even if the recipe didn't turn out. Well, I scored on both accounts.... the cordial turned out delicious and I've provided the recipe here.
Cherry Vinegar is an old recipe that is easy to make and produces a tasty, refreshing drink in the summer time. You can use any kind of berry including currants, raspberries or blackberries. And even though it's made with vinegar, I promise, you won't taste it in the end.
Method: Fill a clean jar with clean berries, or cherries, etc. shaking the jar so they are settled in. Cover berries with white vinegar and let the jar stand on the counter top for 2 days or longer if you like. Strain off vinegar (I strained first with a nylon mesh strainer, then mashed the berries a bit to break the skins, then strained the juice off again. Then I strained this juice through cheesecloth) Don't mash the berries if you want your juice clear. Measure the strained juice and pour into a saucepan. Measure the same amount of white sugar and add to the juice in the saucepan. Stir and bring to a boil.... boil briskly for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. This will produce a sweet syrup. To use, add approx. 3-4 parts water to one part cordial in a tall glass or juice container. Serve cold. Store cordial in a clean jar at room temp.


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Links to other art sites I use and admire:
WetCanvas Cyber Living for Artists Global Village Round Robin Alan Mark Cross Art From The Heart RodzArt Marvin Chew Ruth S. Harris Rieko Art Gallery Kim Ng Mary-Ann Archibald CharMing Art Ursula Rodriguez Art by Judy-Joy Pearl Taylor Alana Harley Felica Keech-Smith Dave Rollins