Pumpkin Challenge 2014

As October arrived I decided to give myself the challenge of painting a series of pumpkins, not just because of the seasonal beauty but also, for me, orange is challenging to capture.  I've been so frustrated trying to figure out how to mix a nice bright orange that I picked up a tube of strictly orange paint but even that only solved part of the problem (I use a limited palette and usually mix most of my color from the primary colors).  Anyhow, I went to my color charts and discovered that using a color called permanent rose makes a really nice orange when mixed with cadmium yellow.  So I picked up the pumpkins above, the littlest is really a gourd pretending to be a pumpkin, and began a series of pumpkin paintings which I will be posting over the next four days.  Who knows, I've been having so much fun with the challenge I may continue with a few more paintings as the ideas keep flowing.  Please check back to follow this little series of paintings and see how they go.