Low-hanging fruit

The term "negative painting" just sounds so, well, negative, doesn't it? But what else to call it? The basic idea is, you paint the lightest colors first, in kind of a wash, and then you paint in the medium tones, and then you paint in the darker elements around the lighter items, and then your background becomes the darkest element, to make everything else pop out.

I decided to try my hand today on a painting of the lemons still hanging from the lowest branches of my tree. I worked from a photo, which is fine; I did a pretty good drawing, and washed in the palest green and some tan for the background first, then came in with the yellow and darker greens, and finally mixed a dark brown from Sienna and Ultramarine for the background.

I think the problem with this painting is, I didn't realize (until I was done) the principle that makes negative paintings so beautiful: They are not realistic. In my photograph, the "mast" on the ground that served as the background was a combination of three or four browns because it was sun-dappled by the light falling through the tree. That's fine if you are going for realism, but in a negative painting it takes away from the effect.

To show what I mean, I'm going to refer you to the website of the master of negative painting, Brenda Swenson. Although her paintings are also vastly more skilled and nuanced than mine, what you're looking at is the backgrounds, which are all smooth to the point of looking air-brushed. The subjects have a hyper-realistic look while definitely being painterly as well, and that's where I missed the boat. I will have to try this again sometime with more regard for effect and less for "how it looks."

Also, I didn't mix the greens I used very well, with the result that there wasn't enough contrast with the background on the stems. And finally, I do NOT know how to get that effect of graduated wash that Brenda makes look so effortless in her backgrounds. (I need to take her negative painting workshop!) I called this painting "Low-hanging fruit" for two reasons, one literal and one not. More effort was definitely needed.

Here is my first/second stage:

And here is the completed painting:

#H pencil and Paul Jackson watercolor on Fluid 140-lb. paper.