Sunday, July 31, 2011

"Juicy Fruit"

Here is my new still-life. It is on a 16 by 20 inch canvas, and is in oil.



Over time as I painted it, I took notes after some of the sessions. You can read those below:

For session 1, the under-painting, I used two pigments, terra rosa, and transparent oxide brown.

For session 2, I filled in some of the background. Rather than using one pigment for the whole thing -- what my painting instructor calls house painting -- I mixed up some various shades and tints of green, the lighter ones being cooler, and the darker ones being warmer. I dabbed it on making subtle variations, pushing darker foreground items with lighter paint, and the opposite with lighter foreground items. It was a little bit of an experiment. We'll see if it works.

For session 4, I toned back the background a bit. I thought that the texture of the background was competing with the rest of the painting. Also, each session, I darken up the wood using transparent oxide brown. The reflections in the wood are quite bright, so I may tone them back with a glaze later on.

Session 5 was supposed to be done. In fact, I signed it. Over about a week, however, I did some touch ups. As a result, I made it into its own session below.

If you want to see the progress over time, check out the links below:

Session 1
Session 2
Session 3
Session 4
Session 5
Final

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Under-drawing

Here is the under-drawing for a new still-life, another kitchen still-life. It is on a 16 by 20 inch canvas.