Oranges On The Branch

Botanical Illustration-1

For some time now I've been working on technical illustration skills and have been using my love of nature as the subjects for my own artistic evolution. Though, it requires a solid understanding of the processes, components, techniques, knowledge of the subject,history, and many many hours of practice. 

I am applying much of my spare time to learning a little of this art form, and I am LOVING IT!! I have discovered some wonderful books on the subject, along with some excellent web sites, and online resources  

I've discovered that capturing the color variations, the texture, and the rich dimension of fruit and flowers takes very keen observation skills along with a deep knowledge of color mixing and brush strokes, most of which I am lacking.

I painted it from a photo reference, and even so, I found it very challenging to create consistent color tones on all of the leaves, and realistic texture effects on the skin of the oranges. It's much harder than it looks and attempting it has given me a whole new level of respect for botanical illustrators and artists.