Orange on Red, oil on cavas, 6X6"

This little demo piece was a practice in using analogous colors (colors next to each other on the color wheel).  The most difficult passage was the shadowed pulp in the orange piece that touches the bottom.  It was darker in tone than the lit and transparent sides of the slices above it, and I painted it twice before I got it right.  It was "muddy" which just means it was the wrong temperature.  By graying it - by this I mean adding a mixture consisting of red, blue and yellow that "leans" towards orange, I was able to achieve the right temperature and hue.

I know it sounds a little complex, but with practice it becomes easier.  I find that as colors move into shadow, they not only go down ( go darker) tonally, but they also lose saturation, or intensity.  An important lesson!