Painting Cherries in Watercolour - step-by-step demo

In a virtual frame but not quite finished yet.....

Always a satisfying subject to paint cherries are. I love their beautiful red, claret colour and the  spindly curvy stems. They make a beautiful composition no matter how you place them in readiness to paint.

Brushes at the ready but I only used a 3 and a 6 round really.

Here is a group of 5 cherries with stems. I just used Arches hot pressed 90lbs paper and a Size 6 and a szie 3 round brush plus Cadmium Yellow Pale, Alizarin Crimson, Rose Madder Genuine, Olive Green and French Ultramarine to paint this simple study.

It is not finished yet as I have work to do on the shadow sides and to create more shine on the sunstruck parts of the cherries...watch this space for the final final result:)

I lifted the white "shiners" out with a clean dampish brush.[/caption]

I was satisfied with this painting because it went well with the washes looking natural and the forms shaping up nicely. I relished in plunging the deep red/clarets into the wet washes to get the darkest part of the fruits shown.