Pumpkin Season has Arrived

Typically I buy quite a variety of pumpkins and squash each year, this year I decided to buy a bunch of fake pumpkins and squash.  I'm still looking for a really large fake pumpkin that looks "authentic".
Why would I buy fakes instead of real ones?

Simple.

I'm setting up a still life in my studio for painting, drawing, etc., and the real ones don't last into March, about the time when I'll be designing  collections for next Fall.

I have a ton of  photos for color and texture references (taken at a local pumpkin farm), but there's nothing as nice as working from a real 3D object.

And don't worry my designs won't look anything like these in the photos, they are just a starting point to work from.

Now to find a decent looking fake pomegranate and all will be well in the world of studio props.

Two Red Pears

Two fresh red pears 

I asked for three but it's the end of the fresh pear season here so I'm doing good to have gotten two!

These are not as red as the Barletts I had earlier in the season, these are rudier and are more in keeping with Pantones color for 2015 "Marsala".  I also am quite enamored with the greenish blush on the large pear and the stripes on the smaller pear.

Since I have only two pears my original idea is well, will no longer work.  So I'm playing with these to see how I want to use them in my work.  Next up some thumbnail sketches and I think I will slice one open it could get interesting!

Still Life Number 1 for Fall 2014

First still life for the Fall season, actually I really can't wait for the colorful leaves and the pumpkins!

Buckeye sketch attempt no. 1 (three minute sketch).

If your thinking you can't draw, don't worry about it I can't draw either, lol, that said well I used to be able to draw but without practice the brain and muscles tend to forget.

So I will spend the next couple of days doing quick sketches and color studies of these buckeyes and the rest of the nommies in this mini still life.  I will spend time studying and drawing their curves, etc., another words I will get to know them.

I started with a quick sketch, and then photographed the different sides of this particular buckeye.

Another view, here you can see how the color and the pattern, yes there's a burl like pattern on this particular buckeye, vary.

The spot that on the shell that makes a buckeye recognizable as a buckeye.