Mouldy apples – Oil on canvas (70cm x 70cm)
Looking into the moulding process of my fruits I had vacuum formed, I wanted to create a piece that showcased the failings of preservation and the keeping of perfection.
Experimentation
I wanted to explore how I could make the texture of mould. I thought that it would consist of something that looks fluffy as well as spikey/crusty textures.
I did some works here looking especially at mould including experimenting with different textures such as cotton, PVA and moss.
Evaluating the composition of this piece, I did some studies focusing on each aspect, the different stages of decay.
The crinkles in these raisin like fruits were difficult, but fun to replicate. Making sure each fold on the pear was in the right place was hard to capture but the overall outcome of it was successful.
Much like my piece looking at pears, this painting looked at the fruits but as they had moulded away from their once perfect forms. This meant I was able to further my investigation of preservation through looking at the different states of decay. The apples not fitting the moulds represent the imperfection around us.
Here I did an oil pastel study into the shrivelling of the apple, I think the fact that these fruits didn’t mould in the traditional sense shows how the shells they were protected by played a part in this process.
Photos
When setting up my scene for this still life I wanted to have a warmer light as well as the bluer lights of the outside. I used fabric to give my background more dimension with the subject being at the forefront of the image.
The photos gave a good composition but made it hard for the two apples behind to be shown in detail. To tackle this when painting I used the apples from the photos as a primary source as well as the photos.