When I see a painting technique whiz by me in my social networking streams I usually make a note of it if it is something I haven't tried yet and I usually paint it in miniature. This fruit series is an example of that. There were three aspects of  these paintings I was curious about. 

1. Would a cheaper brand of blue painter's tape work well?
2. How would scratching out effect the under layer?
3. Would adding graphite enhance the acrylic or would it be invisible for the most part? 

The blue painters tape was a huge fail. I normally use green gator tap, which is really expensive, so I chose to use an ACE Hardware brand and a 3M brand of blue tape. Even though I rubbed my tape well, it still bled around the edges. These paintings actually were going to be 5" by 5" but due to the bleed, I had to cut the white border off. 

Scratching out actually turned out to be interesting. I had previously used a credit card to layer background inks and when I added the top layers of color I scratched out lines revealing the underlying colors. I liked this effect and plan to use it in some larger paintings. 

Adding graphite to my work is something I am new to. Before, I would sketch and then paint over the graphite. These little pieces showed me that using a 4b pencil would add another layer and enhance the overall feel of the piece. 

Each painting is only 4.5 inches by 4.5 inches, which is quite small. These studies have given me a bit of knowledge going forward as to the color palette and texture I plan on using in a much larger still life with fruit painting.