Our First BIG Tomato of the Season

Last week our cherry tomatoes started ripening........a couple at a time each day.  We were waiting for the larger variety to finally ripen and this evening we picked our first one.

I had a hard time deciding on shadow color.  The photo shows it a dark brown which I just knew I'd royally mess up.  Plus I didn't think it looked good anyways even in the photo.  So I decided to try loosely mixing Cobalt Blue with the Cad Red (M) knowing if I over-mixed, I would end up with mud due to the opacity of the Red. 

First application dried too light so I ended up having to go back in which I truly dread doing because normally I would regret doing so.  I just happened to luck out this time.  The mix I used second go around leaned more towards the red.  There is a bit of blotchiness within the shadow but not dreadfully so (at least to my eyes).  The edges were a bit hard and after the shadows dried, I took my angular flat and gently softened them.

I went heavy with my pigment on the tomatoes dropping in the New Gamboge to brighten the reds up a bit while still wet.  Then swished the Perm Aliz in areas to darken some areas. 

The highlights I probably could have gone a bit softer.

Overall, I at least captured the character of our first full sized tomato :-)