Mandarin Oranges studies

Yesterday evening while I was considering having some fruits for dinner, while looking at a bag with mandarin oranges they were also "asking" to be painted. So, I just put some of them in front of me and worked directly with the brush on paper, with no preliminary drawing. And it was fun to do! I started first with very light washes to establish the main shapes and, after a few layers of paints, here are the results:

7x5 inches, Saunders Waterford 90 lb CP paper, Mandarin Oranges 01

5x7 inches, Arches 140 lb HP paper, Mandarin Oranges 02

Red Pea (Lathyrus cicera) study

While in the village for the winter holidays, the weather was so nice, almost like spring! During my walks I was continuously looking around for little flowers, and kind of disappointed not to see any yet - usually they start to appear by the end of January. Thus I run to my reference photos taken during previous spring, and here it comes another Red Pea (Lathyrus cicera) study. Painting size is ~7x5 inches, and it is done with my usual watercolor palette (a mixture of Winsor & Newton, Daniel Smith and American Journey) on Saunders Waterford 90 lb CP paper.

p.s. This is the 3rd study I do of this little wildflower, and most probable is I won't stop here...

Tomatoes on Plate

This is a painting I finished in November 2015, but I didn't manage to scan it all this time. It is from a photo I took some time ago (I also post it on WetCanvas for one of the WDE I hosted, but I don't remember which one), and I use it as a reference for one of the workshop sessions for the advanced group at the Community Center. The painting is approximately 10x14 inches, and it is done with my regular palette on Arches 90 lb CP paper.

Pear shapes

I painted this one from an older photo I took of some pears I got from the market. The real fruits had a ochre-brownish color and were placed on white background, but I wanted to have fun with this one and try to get some strong contrasts. Just that it goes away from the real thing :)
Anyway, the painting is ~10x7 inches, and it is done with acrylics on paper.