Paint Along with Me - Orange Slices - Day One

Another paint along with me - this time orange slices. I cut an orange into various pieces. This time I'm photographing them with my cell phone and natural light.

 Here's the side view of the oranges on the kitchen table.

 With the image on my computer display, I hold a cropping tool in front of the screen to better see possible compositions.

In Photoshop, I crop the image to a pleasing composition then resize to a 5 x 7 format. If you are super observant, you'll notice that I used the clone tool to make the far left orange slice larger to avoid the awkward position against the next slice.

I could take the cropped image to the easel and adjust the color "manually" by imagining how I want the finished painting to look. Instead, to eliminate many color decisions, I adjust the color using Photoshop to make a reference photo that looks the way I want my finished painting to look. Students note for upcoming Studio workshops with me: If possible, please color adjust your reference photos that you will be bringing to class so we can both visualize your painting goal. If you aren't already doing this in your everyday studio work, try it. It will simplify your life.