I love the patterns of the blueberries, strawberries and kiwi on Star Tart, which somehow reminds me of folk art quilts.
The real fruit tart is from our favorite bakery, Riviera Bake House here in Ardsley. I have painted various versions of tarts before, but never one straight on, from the top down like this one.
“Star Tart”, by Beverly Shipko, Oil painting on cradled wood panel, 6 x 6 inches
Maybe I got inspired by similar views from previous paintings – Day 11 Pomegranate Half, Day 6 Crumbs Praline Cupcake, and Day 5 M&M Cupcake, which are also top down views. Apparently I like painting circular compositions on square panels.
Today’s challenge was to capture the dimensional quality of the tart that is implicitly built into angled side views, which are easier to paint in some respects. That’s probably why I had this old photo lying around for 12 years (taken with my first digital camera) and never did anything with it until now.
I started with the background and the crust, and then moved progressively inward, as you can see in these photos. The order of the colors mirrors the physical construction of the tart, almost as if I was the baker. First you start with the tart crust and the filling, then you add the kiwi, followed by the strawberries, and finally a mass of blueberries. For some reason, my favorite part was painting the kiwi seeds. I don’t know why they were just fun to paint, maybe simply because they brought the kiwi slices to life.
My plan of attack also took into account the bleeding color factor, and started with the colors that bleed the least (white, blue, ochre, green) and end with colors that bleed the most (red and indigo blue). Being a daily painting, I proceeded slowly and methodically since there was little room for error. At the end, I went back to tighten some areas up, darken the shadows, and add the highlights to make the glaze shine.
Now that my dessert craving is temporarily satisfied, I’ll look elsewhere tomorrow. Any suggestions?
Thanks for stopping by.
