White Bowl with Cherries

July 6th, 2026

Here is an 8" x 10" oil painting I've been working on this week. Sweet cherries are finally here in the grocery store on the east coast from the Northwest.  I filled a white porcelain bowl with them and poured a few out beside the bowl. 

Here is a look at how the painting progressed. 

After adding a very thin wash of oil paint to a primed linen board, I started sketching the composition with a regular graphite pencil. The grid lines help to divide the composition into thirds, using the junctions as focal points. The top of the cherries in the bowl are one focal point and the cluster of cherries next to the bowl are another.

Then I began to fill in the lights and darks with color, paying attention to the darkest and lightest values. The light was streaming from the right so I made sure that the background, the bowl and the fruit were light on the right and in shadow on the left. 

Then I defined the edges around the cherries and the bowl and added more highlights. 

Stems were added with additional shadows and more reflections. This is the finished piece, ready to to be posted on the Gallery page, varnished and framed.