"Wine, Cheese, Grapes" is an exercise I did to work on many things: reflections, textures, patterns, and mixing paints on the paper rather than pre-mixing them.
After laying down my sketch, I began by "masking" (preventing paint from reaching the paper, in this case with liquid drawing gum) certain areas then laid down very wet washes of color for the background, allowing the first to dry and then adding a second wash, the water of the wash to "reactivating" the paint of the first wash allowing me to blend the colors some. I did the same with the table top.
After removing some of the masking, I rendered hot the wine glass and cheese, allowing the white of the paper to stand in for the lightest reflections/values.
The wine bottle was next. I used multiple washes for the basket's values and then - using a combination of adding paint here and removing it there - rendered the weave of the basket, being careful not to "go down the rabbit hole" with detail. I finished the bottle up by adding a wash of color to simulate light going through the wineglass and falling on the basket.
Moving to the grapes, I mixed their colors on the paper using a new (to me) technique: laying down pigment rich touches of color and then blending them with water. To complete the grapes, I used a damp brush to remove paint to create highlights.
"Wine, Cheese, Grapes" is an approximately 8 x 10" image on 9 x12" Arches cold pressed, fine grain, 140# watercolor paper.
Product code: Wine, Cheese, hot Grapes