Simple Pear

Sometimes just a simple piece of fruit can give you a great lesson in drawing, form, and color.
First sketch the shape with a conte pastel pencil. Look at the form. How tall is it compare to the width. Look at the shape of the sides of the pear. I bet they aren't symmetrical. Is it leaning to one side?
I started on 400 grit Uart paper and covered the paper with nupastel - medium brown and then rubbed in with a paper towel to color the paper. 
Pastel is always more vibrant on a colored background. A white paper tends to weaken the pastel color.

A simple pear. A bit taller than it is wide and learning to the right.

Sketch in the basic shape. Pay attention to the edges of the planes - the shape.

Solid up the shape and add the basic colors of a pear.

Block in cool colors in the shadow areas and warm color in the highlighted area. The basic color of the pear is yellow-orange. The opposite of yellow-orange on the color wheel is in the purple family which is what I put in the shadow area. Olive green as the transition color from shadow to light.

Final stages of the piece.
I added a light red to the blush part of the pear to indicate the upward slop of the plane. Olive on the upper part of the pear as it was not in direct light. More yellow and golds on the side of the pear closest to the light and finally add a warm highlight - pale yellow. Dark shadow behind the bottom of the pear to give it weight on the paper and some lighter/brighter color on the plane in front of the pear which informs the viewer even more that the source of light is hitting the right side of the pear.