'Turksvye' (Prickly Pears) Painting

Inspiration: Contemporary Realism, and Photo realism from the 70's The process: I start by sketching on paper in Chinese ink or charcoal - drawing from life. I construct my composition with basic geometric shapes, attempting to create a balance between positive and negative space. Once satisfied with my preliminary sketches I move to photography. I take many digital photos for reference and often paint from more than one at a time. Once my photographic session is complete I move to the canvas. I rely on realistic rendering of tone, colour and texture to convey the illusion of three dimensional forms and weight. Materials: I use genuine gum turpentine and artist quality oil paint; Miameri Puro, Sennelier, Windsor & Newton and sometimes grind my own pure pigments with refined linseed oil(alkali refined). For a general purpose medium I use "Maroger" venetian wax medium