I dream of Pineapple

Hello everybody! Today I present you my entry for the Drawing Challenge contest. The theme was "Fruit" And that's what I drew:

This drawing is made on thick paper that I found at home. The materials used were mainly watercolor, a B2 pencil and some non-permanent markers.

When I read the theme of the contest, two things came to my mind that inspired this work:

Inspiration

1. Caravaggio, La canestra di frutta

Caravaggio is the king of "chiaroscuro" a technique used during the baroque and romantic periods, that consists in achieving a very dramatic effect by using very contrasting lights and shadows. He is consider the creator of the modern painting, as he looked for big realism in his work, refusing to idealize his subjects (poor people and prostitutes) and showing them just the way they were. He gained a lot of enemies in the catholic church due to this way of depicting religious scenes. He was appreciated and recognized at the time, despite the rejection of the church.
However, he was involved three times in fights in Rome where he killed a man. And in Naples, the story repeated itself because his enemies made a complot to kill him. He had to run away and his career declined. This brought him to a depression that made him die in 1608.

So when I think about fruits, it always evokes me the dead nature painted specially at this period. Nevertheless, it was a very common exercise among painters from different times of history. That is why I wanted to do something inspired of this amazing painting. (Is not the most famous of Caravaggio, but you can give yourself an idea of his proficiency)

2. I dream of Jeannie

This was was the intro of an american TV series that tells the story of Major Nelson, a young astronaut who, during a failed mission, lands in a desert island where he finds a strange bottle. From this bottle, a beautiful genie comes out, and, thankful for him setting her free, she promises to serve him in everything he would need. They are in love at first sight, but Major Nelson is about to marry the General's daughter... It is a very funny story and the actress who played the main role is just beautiful. Barbara Eden is a very talented artist, that I personally consider undervalued: she acts, sings, and is a very strong woman that was able to build a career thanks to her talent and carisma, during a particularly tough period for professional women, who were valued more for their physical beauty than for their talent. (The series had 5 seasons from 1965 to 1970)

I really liked this weird combination of styles, periods, and even genres (Caravaggio is a painting, I dream of Jeannie's intro is a cartoon) So I created this drawing. Here is the step by step process:

1. I drew with an F pencil the first guidelines of the drawing, so I can decide where each element will be placed:
   

2. I used watercolor to put the general coloring of the drawing, without caring too much for the details yet. The genie of the fruit will be finished at last.
   

3. I continue using darker tonalities of the same watercolor tones in order to create preliminary shadows.
   

4. With a B2 pencil, I created the shadows and the knitting of the basket, that I can tell was very challenging. I freaked out at least three times, but I did not give up. In the end, the hard work was worth all the effort because I am in love with my basket!
   

5. With the same pencil, I created some details on the fruits and also the shadows on the fruits and the spaces between them.
   

6. Now I used some non-permanent markers in similar colors to create the details of the fruits and leaves. This gave them more vitality and movement. In the case of the leaves, this helped me to show that they are beginning to dry, as these are fruits that have been collected some time ago already. I also improved the color of the table.
   

7. To give the final touch, I used two techniques to create the light reflections on the fruits: I used the eraser to take out some painting in the large spots. For smaller and more precise spots such as the grapes and the cherries, I used a wet brush and toilet paper to take out some painting.
   I also painted and finished the genie's face, which came up to be the easiest part of the drawing.
   

8. Finally I finished the body of the genie, by creating a line of the same color of the face around its body. I wanted it to be phantasmagorical as it is not something real or realistic.
   And of course I signed my work. Now is finished!!
   

If you liked this drawing, you can get it here

thank you to @helene by hosting this contest