In the design of this painting we link the lemons as if they are on a vine, and then we draw some round plate or saucers shapes underneath them. Abstracting it somewhat.

I have chosen a background which includes blues and mauve, purple. (Made with blue and pink). Blues recede due to their cool temperature, and the lemons come forward due to their warm colour. Making a good drawing in this exercise, is important.

We always prepare our colours before starting the painting. We then pre-wet each lemon and paint them one at a time. We concentrate on keeping an area of light, it’s important in watercolour to have some areas very light transparent paint, or white.

What you will learn.

• • Barbara shows you how to built up the tones, and build up the shapes.
  • Have all the colours ready, prepare some washes. Then we strengthen the pigment.
  • Here we paint each lemon and just before it dries, we sprinkle salt to create the lemon peel texture. – We complete all the lemons, then paint the leaves. Barbara guides you through each step.
  • Then we draw the plates, and paint a background variegated wash in cool colours.
  • Now let the fun begin, Barbara teaches you how to do “negative” painting in the background. Very importantly let the first wash dry thoroughly before starting the second layer