Forelle Pear #11, Pears Squared Series, 6" x 6" Pastel

Another in my series of Pears Squared.  I challenged myself (on Face Book, can you believe it????) to paint a pear using only the sticks in the Terry Ludwig Set "Best Loved Basics".  It only has 14 sticks, and I am quite sure he wasn't thinking about painting pears with it.... I am positive actually.  I had a hard time finding the colors I needed to get the glow I was after.  Only one red and a pink really isn't enough, though I do have to admit it is quite a nice red and pink....

These Forelle pears are beautiful.  Tiny, with lots of color.  Painting pears is proving to be quite a useful exercise.  I know I can translate much of what I am applying here to any other subject.  If you haven't tried a series yet, I encourage you to do so.  It really is quite a challenge, and in the process you truly do learn things, and even if you don't (which I find hard to believe), you will have things cemented in your mind for future reference.  Either way, it's worth the effort.

I also used my set of Terry Ludwig Grays.  The more I use this set the more indispensable I find them to be.  They are highly useful, in just about any subject.  I highly recommend them.

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved

 

 

Here is a photo of the sticks I used for this painting:

 

And for comparison, here are the sticks I've been using for all the other pears I've painted:

Using a limited palette, especially one that wasn't selected by myself, isn't easy.  It can feel very restrictive, but it is a very useful lesson, it really forces you to come up with alternatives.