Friday, May 31, 2013

Sweet Summer Cherries


“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; 
to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”   
—Henry James  


It's cherry season in the Bay Area, and there's a stand in my neighborhood that sells some real beauties. On Wednesday afternoon, I bought a pound each of the dark red ones—I think they're Bing, but I'm not positive—and the Rainier cherries, and they're so sweet!! (It was a happy coincidence that Illustration Friday posted this week's topic of "sweet" just as I was putting the final touches on this drawing.)

I decided to draw the Rainiers, as a companion piece to a drawing of the red ones that I did last year at this time. When you see these in the market, they're often a bit bruised and discolored—their light-colored skins make them appear more fragile. I think they have a more delicate taste, too.

It's supposed to be warm and sunny here for the next week or so, and cherries are the perfect warm weather snack—it's a wonder that I got through this drawing without getting cherry juice all over it.

Here are some set-up and work-in-progress pics.  Please forgive the bad lighting and inaccurate color; I shot these at my desk with my iPhone camera since I just didn't want to get up and do the whole scanning thing. I was going to write a bit more about my process, but oddly enough, when I went back to last year's cherry drawing, I'd gone through it all in that post! Strange...



Have a great weekend!

13 comments:

  1. Mmmmmm. So enticing! Makes me want to head out for some Rainiers. Gorgeous, Sarah!

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  2. Yummy!
    I'm going to have to have cherry-flavored something for breakfast. Definitely.

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  3. Cherries are my favorite fruit. These are luscious!

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  4. This is amazingly wonderful. Sarah, you truly are a master. Will you please post your collection of fruits on Behance?

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  5. Your artwork is breath-taking! Do you really use color pencil? I find that hard to believe, since it seems like I can just pluck the cherry off the screen and pop it in my mouth. What? It's not real?!

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  6. Beautiful! It's so interesting to see how you work too. Thanks for sharing. I wish I had some cherries too :)

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  7. Thanks for stopping by at my blog! I just had a look at yours, and your drawings are so beautiful! You have a great technique! Something that I would like to improve. Are you giving any lessons? :-)

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  8. This is amazing!! the cherries are looking real!!:)

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  9. Your work is beautiful Sarah, thank you for your lovely comment on my "sweet"

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  10. Thank you for posting your step by step progress! I love seeing how other artists go about creating their pieces. Cherries are a perfect subject, especially when they are carefully composed and rendered like you have done! Beautiful work, Sarah!

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  11. Very cool. I enjoyed seeing your process and the drawing is exquisite, as yours always are!

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