Chile Trio 30 in 30 days 22-24

I ran across fresh chiles in the produce aisle last week and carefully picked out colorful ones with interesting shapes.  In the back of my mind was the NM Watercolor Spring Show in Las Cruces whose theme is New Mexico food.

I placed them on a white board and lit them strongly with a small lamp perched on a tissue box to get a neat angle.

Chile Trio photo

Once happy with the arrangement I did several sketches, one small in my book, another more life size, 9 x 12, and used paint to put in the shadows an indicate which areas were kind of fuzzy rather than sharp edged.

Chile Trio sketch

Then the fun began because I put in various colors of yellow and blue trying to get some of the shadows that form the shapes.  Some of the pigments bled bigger than I expected, oh the joys of watercolor!, and I forgot to snap a photo after just the first stage.  This one is actually after I went in on top and started the middle chile.

Chile Trio stage 1

On the next day I went in with bold colors and let them mingle together and had fun with portraying the shapes. I used a cool and warm orange on top of the yellows, and actually used the Cascade Green from Daniel Smith because it was squeezed on my palette and it blended well.  Not sure I would have chosen it if it weren’t just “there”.

Chile Trio stage 2

And then the next day I put in more details and the shadows, some of which have beautiful blending of colors. I realized that I was working from the actual chiles in addition to the photo and in the mix, got my shadows mixed up, and also I was reacting to where the colors had formed on my paper.  Just a huge fun bunch of color that I think turned out kinda cool.

Chile Trio stage 3

There is more to be done, or perhaps a new one to paint, but for now, I’m relieved that I’ve gotten time to make this post!  I’ve been busy choosing paintings to print, learning how to cut matboard, and getting an inventory to perhaps to a small indoor sale in October and take some to the gallery.  The next step after that is to set up an online store on my site.  always something more to do!!

Hope you enjoyed my Chile Trio.  I’d love to hear from you.  Thanks for stopping by!