I have wanted to paint grapes for a while, they are such little jewels!

The sketch on the rough side of Canson Mi-Teintes with vine charcoal which I brushed down before adding pastel.

stroking on dark and mid value pastels

I have blended the pastels so they become an under painting of sorts

I begin to add details working left to right and top to bottom

This is the fun part, firing up the grapes!

I add the darkest darks and the lightest lights and sign it but I'm going to look at it tomorrow with 'fresh eyes'.

The next day I added blues to the onion and peachy warm tones to the grapes - they were all too equally red yesterday.  I also stroked more warm toasty pastel over the pale violet in the upper right area that was too distracting.  Finally I noticed that since they are translucent, the grapes cast a warm glow on the beige fabric - just the right touch I now think!