Monday, October 16, 2006

Daily Painting Practice - Pumpkin

I started with burnt umber and a little ultra marine blue. I kept it dry like shoe polish. Have you ever noticed how Andrew Wyeth's sketches always have such a punch to them. I think it is because he was fearless in using deep darks and strong contrasts for his under painting.
Using the wipe off method again. I just love those half-tones it produces.
The most difficult part for me was the corn, the highlights kept coming out too sharp or the wrong color or not painterly. I think I reached a new world record for wiping off and re-painting. click on picture to enlarge the image
Autumn Harvest
9"x12"
oil on masonite panel
SOLD

October is by far the month for color. It is also the month for strange vegetables and plants that no one really eats. Every artist paints the plentiful harvest of Autumn (then probably goes out to McDonald's for a Big Mac and fries). Which is a shame, cooked squash is delicious and so is cooked pumpkin. The colorful corn, unless you pound it into flour, I must admit is purely for decoration.

5 comments:

Louis Boileau said...

Good morning Peter. Nice painting!

David said...

Very nice still life, Peter. The pumpkin, especially . . . you captured the bumpiness of it perfectly.

My favorite dish this time of year is butternut squash soup. If you grate two granny smith apples into it, and add a dash of sherry, it's divine! Happy October!

Anonymous said...

Hello Peter,
Both of the gourd paintings are too, too ....very, very nice.

Jamie Williams Grossman said...

This was my favorite painting of the day. :)

Larry Seiler said...

composition and variation of values and color catch my eye on this one, Peter...very lovely, very nicely handled!!!