Some fruit and veg paintings

A few people took up pen, pencil or watercolour to answer the fruit and veg challenge.

The first picture was done with oil pastels, a delightfully rich medium. Maureen used a blue dish to successfully set off the vivid yellows and oranges. Note how the roughness of the paper contributes to the illusion of roughness in the orange peel. Do more Maureen!

John found some vibrant autumn coloured leaves which he put, to great effect,  on a very dark background. This type of background that focuses your interest on the subject matter is worth trying out with other still life arrangements.

Ann returned to the ever popular theme of peppers: Using a mixture of graphite an watercolour they are bright and vibrant. Most of us have peppers in the larder and their solid rounded shapes are excellent for subject matter.

Fiona went a bit overboard trying out various different approaches (and learning where she ought not to venture!).


Watercolour and a wobbly hand didn't produce a good result. So she got out coloured pencils where the artist is in control and did the same bit again with greater success.

But there was more to come. That pile of fruit and veg.

This was a graphite drawing with a bit of overlaid watercolour. Ann did something similar above. It is probably more successful as a graphite work but the temptation to add colour was too much.

Why stop there?

And so she did it, item by item, in watercolour. And splatted some colour over the end result.

There are so many different ways of tackling a picture, as we showed in the previous blog concerning a challenge to produce fruit and veg.

It is fun experimenting and don't forget to use both sides of your paper so nothing goes to waste.