Three Pears

 

Happy me . . . another pretty thing to paint!  Let's begin: First I played around with the composition.  I've decided to set them all three in a row, and since I'm doing a traditional botanical illustration, they'll be 'floating' in space, rather than sitting on the table.  These pears are so squashy round I almost want to draw faces on them!  I made several pencil sketches and took photos for reference for later.  Then, I started messing around with colored pencils:

I want to make sure I can reproduce the colors acurately.  See all my notes to myself?  By the time I'm painting them, these pears will have all yellowed, and there's a decent chance I will have eaten them!  So I'm working out the beautiful yellows and greens and oranges, and also I have figured out my shaddows and contrasts.  The more work I do now, the easier it is when it comes time to paint!