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Several of the artists in our group (Daily PaintWorks )thought it would be fun to all paint the same subject. We decided to all paint tomatoes.
I don't know why I would call this a Still Life...as soon as I hung them up for the second time I noticed....the tomatoes started sagging and the leaves started curling. I thought the painting gods were ganging up on me.
Almost finished. If I ...I mean if the tomatoes could just hang on a few more minutes.
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My daughter gave me this oriental looking canister as a gift. She thought it would make a great painting subject. My wife/art prop reclaimer quickly snatched it. She holds it hostage in the kitchen. I swiped it back for this study....if I'm careful she'll never know it was gone.
I started with a pencil drawing transferred to the panel. Then I sprayed it with a fixative so I would not loose the drawing. This way I could wash in the background and still see the guidelines of the drawing. After laying down a raw sienna/burnt sienna mix of paint I can pick out the lines using this paper charcoal blender.
With the basic tones blocked in I am very impatient to get to the color.
If I add color immediately I have to be careful not to pick up the under painting.
Using Liquin the thin paint drys fairly fast.... good thing for impatient daily painters like me.
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I should have lowered the painting to make it easier to compare. For the moment just tilt your head. I let this under painting dry overnight before adding the color the next day.
That's better ...my neck was getting sore.....At this point the only part I liked was the plum. The red was driving me crazy....I was silently using a colorful vocabulary to compliment my palette.
The glazed porcelain was an added challenge.
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More experimenting. Blick Art has new panels to play with and I am continuing to try out my new medium. Make sure you click on the images to get a closer look at the stages of development.
I really wanted to concentrate on the background this time and not do my typical...go back into it after the painting is complete.
Eggs may be my new fun thing to paint. They are the best thing for practicing values.
Before I started this painting I remembered seeing a website for the National Gallery of Art in Washington that talked about Vermeer's proportions and compositions. Here is the (link). It is incredible to think he put so much thought into his work. I don't think I will ever get to that point.
I am more of an organic fly by the seat of my pants composer.
Though, I found it kind of funny that this is how my drawing lined up. Purely by accident! Just eyeballing the composition and sitting down to draw... I wonder what Vermeer would have said...Beginners luck. He would be right.
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Another day another color combination to play with.
The plums really stand out against this old piece of pottery.
The thing that is giving me the most trouble is how much detail to show in the pottery. Too much and it comes forward and takes away from the plums.
I thought I had it at this point but there were a number of things that bothered me. The foreground for example... don't like it.... take it out!
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Thank God I have a studio in the basement. Nice and cool down here. It was a miserable hot and humid day today. The kind of humidity that when you walk outside you feel like you are wearing a set of damp clothes.
I kept picking up paint from the under painting as I tried to add layers. Perhaps this would have worked better as a two day painting. After a lunch break the painting looked like it was almost dry... but that was just a trick. They should call this trick the artist medium. I made the mistake of using a brush that was damp with turps....oops! off came the paint...when will I learn?
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First, my painting,"Cowboy Dave", was accepted into the (American Plains Artists 24th annual show). It will be held at the Museum of the Southwest in Midland, Texas. ( I should buy some cowboy boots because I will be flying down to the lone star state for the opening reception on August 28th.
I was also picked for the (International Guild of Realism Juried Exhibition) in Naples, Florida - February 2009 show. This painting " On Foot" did not get picked. That's fine because I am free to give it to a gallery now.
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Thursday was Plein Air Day for our little group. Only two of us made it though. It was back to Hanscom Park in Omaha for some fun with calla lilies and the water fountain again.
Just started here mapping out the scene. This was a great location, in the shade with a nice breeze.
Here's my two for the day. Not a bad bit of fun!
Summer Fountain Hanscom Park study
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A good daily painter must be ever on the look out for subject material and always be ready to act . After my baker/wife finished baking the other morning, I spotted this flour covered measuring cup full of egg shells on the kitchen counter. I waited until she left the room, then I grabbed it. I quickly hid it down in the studio so she wouldn't clean it and throw out the egg shells before I had a chance to paint them.
Art schools should teach how to sneak props into the studio. It is a valuable skill that was nearly lost until the daily painting movement came along to reclaim this ancient practice. I have heard that some classical art ateliers still teach this method, but it is a long 3 year process that most young artists don't have patience for. Where is the discipline these days?
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