Paint a Baroque Still Life of Artichokes

Choose File → New and set Width to 1400 and Height to 1050. Click Create.

1. Fill Background with #0A0705 (Edit → Fill).
2. Rename Layer 1 to Niche Glow. Add a Radial gradient that fades from #3E2B19 to a transparent #1E150D. Drag it from the upper left (about 330, 300) toward the lower right, then set the layer to 75% opacity. That is your only light source.
3. Click New Group, name it Stone Niche, and add one layer for each stone surface. Draw each one with the Lasso as a four-point polygon, then fill it with a linear gradient:

• Lintel: across the top, dark brown fading to near-black.
• Left Reveal: the thin left wall, lighter toward the ledge.
• Right Reveal: the thin right wall, almost black.
• Ledge Front: the front face, #3A2B1E to #0A0705.
• Ledge Top: the top surface. Run the gradient left to right from warm #B09472 to dark #2A2018, so the light fades across it.
• Edge Highlight: a 3 px strip along the ledge's front edge. It gives the stone a crisp lit lip.

1. Add a layer called Stone Grain and fill it with #808080.
2. Run these three filters in order:

• Filter → Clouds (Scale 9)
• Add Noise (Amount 35, Mono, Gaussian)
• Emboss (Angle 135, Strength 45)

1. Lasso the back-wall rectangle and press Delete, so the grain only covers stone.
2. Set the layer to Overlay at 25%.

1. Select Niche Glow, click New Group and name it Still Life.
2. Drag its grip above Stone Niche, so everything you paint sits in front of the stone.
3. Add a layer called Artichoke. Lasso a short stem stub standing on the ledge and fill it with an olive gradient.
4. Fill a 270 × 290 ellipse with #141A0E. This dark body shows through the gaps between the bracts.

Each bract (leaf scale) is a pointed, rounded leaf shape:

1. Lasso the leaf shape and Edit → Fill it with #232B18.
2. Choose Select → Shrink…, set 2 px and click Apply.
3. Drag a linear gradient from the bract's base to its tip. For the inner rows, use #2A2E1C → #5E6E40 → #6C6C48 → a violet #6E3E62.

The violet appears only in the last few pixels, so each bract gets a purple tip rather than a purple stripe. The dark ring left by the shrink becomes the bract's outline.

Paint 33 bracts in five rows, starting at the top and working down, so each lower bract overlaps the one above it.

• Draw each row as a shallow smile. The front bract sits lowest and the side bracts ride slightly higher. This reads as a ring of leaves wrapped around a sphere seen from a little above.
• Squeeze the side bracts sideways. A bract at the edge of the globe can be a third as wide as the one facing you. That foreshortening is what makes it look round.
• Tilt them to follow the form. Upper rows lean toward the top, and lower rows lean outward.
• Shift the colours down the globe. The lower rows use a greener gradient (#222C17 → #6E8450 → #889866), with only a hint of violet at the tip.

1. Run Filter → Gaussian Blur with Radius 2 on Artichoke. This softens the drawn outlines.
2. Add two helper layers above it:

• Artichoke Shade: a linear gradient from #1A120A to transparent, dragged from the lower right toward the centre.
• Artichoke Light: a radial #E8D49A to transparent, centred on the upper-left shoulder.

1. To keep them inside the artichoke, select Artichoke and click the Magic Wand on the empty wall beside it.
2. Select each helper layer in turn and press Delete.

1. Set Artichoke Shade to Multiply at 80%.
2. Set Artichoke Light to Screen at 40%.
3. Select Artichoke Shade and choose Layer → Merge Down, then do the same with Artichoke Light.

Merge the Multiply layer first. Each blend mode then bakes directly into the artichoke's pixels.

The second artichoke is the first one, turned over:

1. With Artichoke selected, draw a rectangular marquee a little larger than it.
2. Press ⌘C, then ⌘V, and rename the paste Artichoke Lying.
3. Switch to the Move tool and click Flip Horizontal in the options bar.

Flipping keeps the highlight on the upper left once the artichoke is rotated. Press ⌘D, then drag the copy to the right.

1. Draw a marquee around the copy.
2. With the Move tool, drag the round handle just off the box's top-right corner about 80° counter-clockwise. The artichoke's top now points left and its stem stub points right.
3. Press ⌘D to commit.

Commit each transform with ⌘D before starting the next one.

1. Draw a fresh marquee around the lying artichoke.
2. Hold ⌘ and drag the bottom-right corner handle inward to about 75%. ⌘ keeps the proportions.
3. Press ⌘D.

A smaller second artichoke also reads as sitting a little further away.

Move the lying artichoke down and to the right until its lowest bract touches the front half of the ledge (about y 828). It now sits in front of the standing one, which breaks up the single baseline.

1. Select Artichoke, then click Add Layer. The new Stem layer lands between the two artichokes.
2. Lasso a stem about 34 px thick that starts at the lying artichoke's stub. Curve it out to the right, onto the ledge, and over the front edge.
3. Fill it with a gradient across its width: #9AA866 → #56672F → #1C2410.
4. Finish the tip with the cut face:

• Lasso a small tilted ellipse.
• Fill it with #3A4020.
• Shrink the selection by 3 px.
• Fill the rest with a radial gradient from #DCD3A4 to #8A865A.

Something poking out of the picture toward you is a classic Spanish still-life trick.

Select Artichoke Lying and click New Group. Name the group Hanging Pomegranate, then add these layers inside it:

1. String: a 3 px Hard Round brush line in #9C8C68, from the lintel down to about y 200.
2. Pom Body:

• Fill a 196 × 186 ellipse with a radial gradient: #C85A4E → #96202A → #4A0A12 → #10020A. Drag it from the upper left.
• Add Noise at 6, Mono.
• With the selection still live, dab a few low-opacity (22%) Soft Round blotches of #9A6A34, plus a darker stroke of #2A060A down the right side.
• Run Hue/Saturation at Hue +3, Saturation −12, Lightness −4.

1. Pom Crown: a lassoed crown of six sepals with a red-to-black gradient. Add a couple of low-opacity #C0604A Soft Round strokes on the lit sepals so they aren't a flat silhouette.
2. Pom Shade: a Multiply layer at 75% with a dark gradient in the body ellipse from the lower right.
3. Pom Shine: a small ellipse with Feather 14, filled with #F2D8C4, on Screen at 28%. Keep it dim, so the fruit looks matte rather than plastic.

1. Select Artichoke and add a layer called Knife.
2. Build the knife as three lassoed pieces along a line about 19° below horizontal, each with a gradient across its width:

• Blade: steel, #CFCCC0 → #848278 → #262522.
• Bolster: brass, #D8B870 → #4A3010.
• Handle: wood, #7A4A22 → #40220E → #120804.

1. Add two tiny brass rivets.

Put the tip at the back of the ledge, where the pomegranate will hide it, and let the whole handle project past the front edge.

1. On a temporary layer, fill a 20 × 26 ellipse with #2A030A and shrink it by 2 px.
2. Add a radial gradient: #C23A4E → #82102A → #3A0410.
3. Add a tiny #FFF4F0 highlight.
4. Marquee the seed and choose Edit → Define Color Brush…. Name it Garnet Seed, then delete the temporary layer.
5. Open the brush presets, pick Garnet Seed, and set these values:

• Shape: Size 17, Spacing 80.
• Dynamics: Scatter 30, Size Jitter 30, Angle Jitter 100.

Set the values after picking the preset, because choosing a preset resets them.

1. Add a Split Rind layer above Knife:

• Fill a 220 × 126 ellipse at the front left with a dark-red radial gradient that is lit from the left.
• Add Noise (6).
• Dab faint #7A5530 Soft Round mottling at 18% so the rind looks dull.

1. Add a Cut Face layer:

• Fill a 208 × 66 ellipse with #5A0E16.
• Shrink it by 4 px and fill with the pale rind colour #D9B98A.
• Shrink it by 7 px more and fill with a cream pith gradient (#EFDDB8 → #A8805A).

1. Keep that selection live. On a Seeds layer, paint zig-zag strokes of the Garnet Seed brush across it, then dot 2 px white highlights on a dozen seeds.
2. On a Membranes layer, draw three curved 7 px strokes of #EAD7AE to divide the seeds into chambers.
3. Nudge the membranes with the Smudge tool (Size 12, Strength 60) so they wander instead of running straight like spokes.

Select Membranes and create a Chamberstick group. Build it from these layers:

• Brass Dish: three stacked ellipses with brass gradients (outer rim, top face and dark inner well).
• Brass Cup: a lassoed cylinder with a vertical highlight.
• Candle: a lasso with a ragged, melted top and a warm-grey gradient. Run Hue/Saturation at Lightness −18, so the candle isn't the brightest thing in the picture.
• Wick: a black 4 px brush stroke.
• Handle: a ring made by filling an ellipse, shrinking it by 7 px and pressing Delete. Drag it with the Move tool to the left side of the dish.

1. Add a Smoke layer and lasso a thin band that rises from the wick and widens as it goes.
2. Select → Feather… it by 8, fill it with black, and run Filter → Smoke.
3. Run Brightness/Contrast at +70 / +45 to make the wisps visible, then set the layer to Screen.
4. Fade the upper part away with a large Eraser (Size 110) at 30–70% opacity.
5. Drop the layer to about 42%.

Smoke should thin out as it climbs, not bend into a solid tube.

The light comes from the upper left, so every shadow falls down and to the right. In Stone Niche, add a Cast Shadows layer above Stone Grain. Fill all of these with #120A05:

• Wall shadows: Feather 34 ellipses behind the standing artichoke and the hanging pomegranate.
• Floor shadows: Feather 20 ellipses to the right of each object on the ledge.
• Contact lines: Feather 4 thin ellipses right at each object's base. These stop things from floating.
• Knife handle: a Feather 3 copy of the handle's outline, 30 px lower, on the ledge front.

Set the layer to Multiply at 80%.

Add three more layers in Stone Niche:

1. Void Shade, set to Multiply:

• A radial gradient from #0C0806 to transparent, centred on the upper right.
• A darker linear gradient down the ledge front.
• A Feather 30 fill of #6A5139 over the left end of the ledge, which was the brightest spot and pulled the eye away from the subject.

1. Ledge Light: a Feather 40 ellipse of #E8C890 on Screen at 30%. It pools the light on the ledge under the standing artichoke.

The blur left a soft halo around the artichoke. To trim it:

1. Magic Wand the empty wall on the Artichoke layer and press ⇧⌘I to invert.
2. Shrink the selection by 2 px, invert again with ⇧⌘I, and press Delete.

Then, with the artichoke selected again, add two clipped layers:

• Artichoke Warm: a radial #CDB672 on Screen at 30%.
• Artichoke Core: a Multiply gradient at 70% from the lower right.

A little Add Noise (4) on the artichoke breaks up the flat gradients.

1. Run Hue/Saturation on Stem at Saturation −40 and Lightness −10, so it's olive rather than lime.
2. Add a Multiply Stem Shade layer, clipped with the Magic Wand, that darkens the part hanging over the edge.
3. Add a hard Stem Shadow on the ledge front below the tip.

Choose Layer → Adjustment Layer… and click Got it to open the root adjustments. Then:

1. Add Adjustment → Vignette and set it to 50.
2. Add Adjustment → Photo Filter and set Density to 10. It warms the whole scene like candle-lit varnish.

Add these root adjustments at the very end. After adding them, check that new layers still show on the canvas. If one doesn't, toggle Disable adjustments off and on again.

Export with File → Quick Export PNG and save your layers with File → Save Project.