The photo of the still life subject on our kitchen table
My sketch on masonite with tinted gesso
WORK IN PROGRESS - 1/2/10 Afternoon. I have some darks and lights blocked in and I'm beginning to put in color to remind me where things are supposed to be. The bottom left hasn't been painted - yet. Thats the gesso.
The @#$%^ camera refused to focus for me. I suppose that Mars should be in alignment with some star.
WORK IN PROGRESS - 1/3/10 Afternoon. Almost done? I need to (want to?) "tweak" this a bit. I think that: a) the bowl needs shading on the left side b) the copper pot needs more "copper" c) the bowl lip (shape) looks goofy and d) the top-most red apple (nearest the pot) has a goofy shape as well. I'm going to leave it alone the rest of today
WORK IN PROGRESS - 1/4/10 Morning. I (think) that I made the copper pot more "coppery", smoothed out the edge of the upper red apple. made the lip of the bowl less "goofy" and touched up here & there. I want to shade the white bowl with a glaze, but I need to let the paint dry another day or two. I tried a glaze this morning & it just "shmeared" everything. I'm going to call this one "done" after I put some glazing here & there. Time to start on something else.
WORK IN PROGRESS - 1/6/10 Mid-day..I tried to make the copper pot reflections "stonger" or more pronounced. (Thanks Carolina!) The highlights are not as bright in this photo as I think that they are in the painting. I also put a light gray glaze on the left side of the bowl and touched up the highlights on the fruit. I am working on two other paintings, by the way. I did "move on", sort of. :-)
A Bowl of Fruit with Copper Pot - a still life "work in progress". The support is 1/8 inch Masonite with tinted gesso. I'm not sure what the tint color is, I put some left over acrylic paints into the gesso and stirred it up. Sort of a dirty, dusty rose?
I'm going to try to remember to take photos as I progress with the painting. I don't do many still life paintings but decided that what I have been doing was getting boring. So, a new year and a new painting outlook.
I seem to have a problem with the blog posting editor - I arrange the photos and text in the "compose" mode but the published post looks different. Go figure.
Hi Ken!
ReplyDeleteThat drawing looks so perfect! Can't wait to see it finished...
And, please send my belated birthday greetings to Melissa, I know her birthday was yesterday, I hope she had a very nice time.
Best regards,
Carolina
Hi Carolina, how nice of you to remember Melissa! I'll be sure to tell her. Because her b'day coincides with the New Years celebrations we can't do much that includes other people. So, I thought that I'd arrange a "surprise" party and invite some neighbors and some of her friends.
ReplyDeleteThanks for everything!
Ken B.
Hello my fellow photographically challenged friend! I think this is taking shape very nicely indeed. Looking forward to the finished article!
ReplyDeleteHello Liz! It's worse than "challenged"! It's a demonic possession in that @#$%^&*! camera. :-)
ReplyDeleteI probably would not have these problems if I would just take the time (WHAT?) and just learn to use the @#$%^&*! camera.
We have about 2 inches of "dry" snow this morning and I've been pushing the snow to make a path to my studio. Then Melissa (bless her) suggested that I clear a path out front so we can get the newspaper. "YES DEAR!"
Thanks for dropping by, I'll keep on keeping on :-).
Ken B.
Thanks for the step-by-step Ken... this is really useful. I'd really like to see how you do the glaze thing, I hope you'll explain a bit later (is it oil paint thinned with lineseed oil or something?). I like the painting already, it's a nice composition, and those china vases on the background are interesting to see (my eyes go back and forth). As usual, nice colors :)
ReplyDeleteI will dare to suggest something, if you let me: what do you think about adding stronger reflections on the copper pot? (Or maybe they're not showing on the photo?)
Hope to see those glazings soon!
Best regards,
Carolina
HI Carolina!
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU for your suggestions. I often can't see the "obvious" - even when I look at a photo of the painting. I DID add some stronger reflections - strong enough? I don't know. :-) I have problems with making the darks dark & the lights light - my stuff seems to be (most of the time) BLAH. Sort of routine (dull?).
You're correct about the "glazing" or at least the way that I do it. I use my homemade medium (1 part turpentine, 1 part linseed oil and 1 part damar varnish) and use a "transparent" color (some are more opaque than others). For this I put a little very light gray glaze on the shadow side of the bowl then darkened the blue fish. There seems to be a blueish tint to the glaze - maybe I picked up some blue from the fish. I need to be more patient about letting things DRY. Ya THINK?!?! DUHHHH! :-)
On looking at the new photo, I think that I need a shadow on the table to the left of the bowl.!?
Thanks again for your input - I REALLY appreciate it! Always.
Ken B.