How to Paint Peaches

A pile of peaches in a variety of angles emphasizes the color gradation and weight.

Painting the classic still-life, a bowl of fruit, is essential to every artist's repertoire. Often, peaches are not included in the mix, perhaps because they are fragile and bruise easily. Apples and oranges aside, it's certainly important to represent the tender, fuzzy surface and warm colors of the peach. You will find that it's a breeze to paint them and most enjoyable.

Things You'll Need

• Peaches
• Canvas board
• Acrylic paint
• Palette
• Medium round brush
• Small round brush
• Jar of water

Instructions

1. Place several peaches in a pile on a flat surface close to where you will be painting. Arrange them in an interesting way to showcase the range of beautiful colors and shapes. For variety and dimension, put one peach at the correct angle to display the recessed area where the stem grows.

2. Squeeze the appropriate acrylic paints onto your mixing palette. These would include a variety of reds and yellows. When these two colors are mixed, they create orange, which will be abundant in your painting. Brown will also be used in the mix.

3. Moisten your medium round brush and create a warm orange tone on your palette, which is approximately 1 part red to 3 parts yellow. This color should be the most predominant tone within your peaches. Mix a good portion of this color to be immediately distributed.

4. Study the shapes of the individual peaches as well as the overall mass of the pile. Using your moistened medium round brush and recent paint mixture, outline each peach, and quickly fill it in, using a sweeping circular motion. Take notice of the entire mound, and replicate the shape that it creates.

5. 

   The soft skin and juicy nature of the peach creates interesting, bulging shapes.

   Mix a darker orange tone that has more red than yellow in it. Using your small round brush, define some of the outermost edges of the peaches using a half-moon circular motion. Leave some of the edges with your original color to capture the subtle changes in tones.

6. Define any bulges or recesses within the peaches by creating lines and painting with circular scribbles alongside the lines, using the same darker orange mixture and small round brush. This will add dimension and give the peaches volume. Add brown to your mixture to emphasize the darkest shadows and any cracks or holes. If one of your peaches has a stem, use this darkest mix to paint it.

7. Clean and moisten the small round brush and lightly tap it into the yellow paint. Take your all-yellow brush and highlight the lightest parts of your peach by smoothing it over these areas of your painting in gentle half-moon sweeps. Trace along edges of the peach that fade into yellow. Highlight the rim of the stem hole and the stem itself with a thin stripe.

8. Finish your peaches by creating a tone you have not already used that is visible within your peaches, and add various stripes and spots that make them distinctive. Outlining the peaches with contrasting colors will allow them to appear as separate objects when lying on top of and against one another.

Tips & Warnings

• Try painting the surface your peaches are set upon with a dark purple, which will allow the orange-yellow peaches to pop out and give weight to your image. Also, painting the peaches as large as possible on your canvas, even continuing off the edges, will make them seem important and visually interesting.