JEANNE ILLENYE green grapes on black painted windsor chair in sunlight contemporary realism oil painting


Green Grapes on Black Painted Windsor Chair
5x5 inches / oil on panel
 jeanneillenye@sbcglobal.net

 capturing nature's transient beauty
Capturing the translucency of grapes illuminated from within is always an enjoyable task. However, here I placed the grapes in strong, direct sunlight which caused the highlights to almost flatten out in blindingly bright white shapes, so I decided to adjust my interpretation to be a little softer. The additional challenge was not only to paint the luminosity of the grapes, but also to paint the highlights and shadows on their surfaces — so all at once I was painting the exterior as well as the interior light. Placing the grapes on an antique painted Windsor chair was merely an afterthought, as I was tracking the last sunlight into my studio and that was the only surface not already cluttered with paintings! Fortunately, I couldn’t have planned it any better since the rich, warm sienna tones provided a perfect complement to the various shades of yellow-green in the grapes.

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