Behind the Scenes of the Cute Fruit Wall Art Collection

Lately, I’ve been seeing cute fruit-inspired home decor, jewelry, and hair accessories everywhere, and I couldn’t resist joining in on the fun. The charm of bright lemons, sweet berries, and painterly watermelon slices felt like the perfect direction for my next collection.

I also thought it would be a great way to build on the two gouache pear paintings I made a while ago, bringing them into a more complete series with a consistent style and fresh energy.

Sketching & Planning

Once I landed on the idea, I turned to Pinterest to gather visual inspiration and sketched out early concepts in my notes sketchbook. I wanted the artwork to be simple, graphic, and focused; each fruit taking up the page with plenty of texture and layered brushwork.

This was a big shift from my last collection on insects, which featured flatter, more blocked-in color. For the fruit series, I leaned into painterly brushstrokes and layered gouache to give each piece a warm, organic feeling.

Palette & Paint Choices

Before diving into the final pieces, I spent some time in my large watercolor sketchbook, testing color mixes and brush techniques. I narrowed the entire collection down to just five Winsor & Newton gouache colors:

• Cerulean Blue

• Lemon Yellow

• Alizarin Crimson

• Zinc White

• Sap Green

This limited palette helped everything feel cohesive across all 12 pieces while still letting me mix a wide range of tones. I also found that using Zinc White gave me more subtle tints and add adding a bit of complimentary colors into the color mixes helped neutralize overly bright mixes.

Painting Process

To keep up momentum, I lightly sketched nine fruits on watercolor paper at once, then worked in layers; adding a bit to each piece, then moving to the next. I bounced back and forth like that over the course of a week, building up each artwork slowly.

The final piece to complete the collection was a bunch of grapes, which I hadn’t originally planned. I painted it all in one sitting on a quiet afternoon, and it ended up being my favorite. Comparing the single green pear I painted a while ago to this new bunch of grapes, I can really see how much I’ve grown as an artist.

This collection has brought me so much joy, and I hope it adds a little brightness to your space, too.