Proper

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#065

If you saw this one on the Daily Paint Works site, I commented on how I seemed to lose the "vision" for it toward the end. I couldn't get the perspective to look right to me, no matter what I did to "fix" it. It's kind of like when you spell a simple word a couple of times and all of a sudden it just doesn't look right anymore. Maybe that's just "over thinking it"?

Anyway, I did capture photos of my steps UP TO my state of complete confusion. lol Here they are:

This background color is a taupish-gray that I'm really liking; it reminds me of damp clay. I used my white chalk pencil to sketch it in. At this point, I still liked the composition. (It's hard to see my half-point hash marks, but they're there.)

Next, found the  darkest darks. I love how this easy step gives so much dimension to your objects and sets your composition "in place."

Usually, I would save my lights at this point, but I wanted to get a little of this turquoise color down first. After I did it, I didn't really like it. It seemed over powering, and it wasn't easy to tone down. 

After saving my "whites", I blocked colors in, dark to light, one color at a time. 

Lastly, I added the background, keeping it cooler than the silverware overall. Then I tried to refine, working here and there. This is the part I over analyzed until I just could not see it anymore.

Sorry to get you to the end and then just say, "And this is were I lost it!" Ha! Almost sounds like an April Fool's Day joke.

Grapefruit Spoon

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#054

Do you know how hard it is to paint in a room where the movie Jaws is blaring in the background? I think it might be Jaws III.... or IV. (I have no idea, there were so many and they all seem the same. Or was that Rocky? haha)  A.n.y.w.a.y.... I've been painting in the kitchen a lot because I have such an incredible view, and these small paintings are fairly easy to set up right on the island. The kitchen connects to the great room where my son and husband are watching the movie. 

I've got what I think is a great setup for being able to set up a mini portable studio quickly in my kitchen, take it down, and pack it away quickly. If anyone is interested, just let me know. I'd be happy to share what I've found to work for me.

Gotta go... Jaws is almost over, and my grapefruit spoon with it's teeth is starting to look like a shark head.

Spoonin'

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#037

A couple of people asked me to post more images of a silverware painting in progress.... at least the way I try to do it. It forced to look at my process or method. Actually, I didn't think I had one. haha  But I took extra pictures this time and tried to lay it out. Maybe I had a process and I didn't even realize it? Images and explanations are below. (On blog only)

Hope everyone's getting a great start to the week! 

Step #1:  (After getting composition set up)
I sketched it in with a Raw Umber wash.
This one came out more detailed than
usual. I try to capture shapes, values, and the
flow (or movement) of the reflections.

Step #2:  I blocked in the lightest lights
and the darkest darks.  It's important not
to lose them! This step takes about a minute,
and defines the movement... to me. It's my
favorite minute!  :)

Step #3A:   I started blocking in medium
tones. This is also the step to make sure
to pay attention to color.... move around the
canvas getting it in, color by color.

Steps #3B:  I kept blocking in medium values.
Here I moved from blues/purples to
greens and yellows...there's actually a touch
of red too, but it's hard to see.

Step #4: I continued filling in color,
focusing now on more detail, and
trying not to lose highlights or my
darkest darks.

Step #5:  From here I started cleaning up the
edges -- making sure not to lose my shapes --
and filling in places I've left unpainted.
 Next I focus on accentuating highlights,
and laying in shadows.  (see final painting) 

Trio

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#035

Decided to try to squeeze in a painting today.... and ended up spending most of the day on this. It took quite a while to feel okay with a composition, almost 3 hours to paint, and about the same just to get a decent picture of it. Part of the trouble I had was that I wanted to paint in the dining room room today. 

To make a short story a little longer.... It was such a beautifully sunny day that I wanted to keep an eye on our koi pond in the front yard -- just in case the water warmed up enough for Bubba to surface for food. He, nor his 6 gold fish buddies, ever came into view. But the movement of the sun through the panels of the bay window kept the reflections, shadows, and highlights dancing around my silver props. It was a little more frustrating than normal. It's already tricky with shiny objects because a simple tilt of your head will move all the shapes and colors around.

All in all, I think I like this painting! I'll drop in some pictures below on steps I took to paint it. NOTE: One thing I noticed after I posted this is the way the reflections on the knife made it look "tilted" too much in the final painting. Yicks! So I tried to fix it, and reposted the next day. (first one is below)  :)

 Step 1: (After getting a still life composition and lighting that I liked) I sketched it in with a wash of raw umber, starting to define the range of values, but also finding the movement in the reflections.

Step 2: I loosely blocked in color, trying not to overly mute color or blend edges together. (This step really could've been broken down into two-three photos.)

3. I refined the painting by focusing on dark first, then on to highlights. This is when I really focus on the reflected light, and how it "plays" off the darker colors. Shadows are worked in towards the end (probably because I have a harder time with them).

After I finished and posted this, I realized that the reflection on the knife made it "bend", so repainted that portion and reposted it. (see above)

Sizes In Silver

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#033

What size spoon do you use when you eat soup? How about cereal? And pudding or ice cream? I always go for the largest one. Not the serving spoon, but the largest soup-type spoon. What does that have to do with anything? Well, actually, nothing at all. I was just thinking about that while painting these. I noticed that most of my teaspoons look pretty shiny and new. The larger soup spoons...not so much. Anyway, it was fun to try to paint the difference. Hope you enjoy it.  

Thanks for stopping by. I hope that your weekend was great, and that your week ahead is fun and fulfilling!

Fork n Spoon

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#028

Yesterday's trip to the grocery store was all about buying "good, healthy" food and getting back on the bandwagon of healthy eating after the holidays (ok, ok, the holiday eating should've ended over a week ago, but I'm a little behind).  Anyway, I bought lots of vegetables and fruits; good lean meats; stuff for soups, salads, and smoothies; ezekiel bread, and almond milk.

Then today (for some reason) I painted with the TV on (which I never do).  And of all things, I had it on the food network. I didn't realize you could make so many wonderfully fattening varieties of macaroni and cheese! Now, I'm starving! And not for ANY of the things I bought! 

Just a coincidence that I painted this empty fork and spoon today! :)   ...guess I'll go make myself a salad now.

Just Cream, Please

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#024

Actually, I drink my coffee black.  I just liked the way this chrome cream pitcher looked. :)

This painting was actually frustrating for me, and I'm still not happy with certain sections of it. I had trouble getting the "turquoise" color that I wanted. Then, I muddied it up; then, I scraped some paint off; then, I over-worked it, and finally, I repeated the steps above. I've been trying to get my daily paintings finished in 1-1 1/2 hours.  This one took almost 4!  (Including the time pacing around, looking at it across the room with one eye closed, texting with my niece, and just generally keeping distracted from the corner I was painting myself into!)

For my next trick, I'm going to do some quick 10 minute paintings of something easy!  :)

P.S. You can see from below that I didn't have the drawing right before I started painting! Lesson learned: Don't get too excited to jump into painting, and ignore your drawing. Bad drawing = bad painting!

^ The reference shot through my view finder. So far, so good.

< The bad sketch, I should've stayed at this step.

>The uncorrected drawing stayed true as I began the painting.

By The Spoon Full

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#005

Avocados are awesome!  They're great to eat, AND fun to paint.  One thing I notice (and like) about using fresh fruit and vegetables for my daily paintings is that I'm certainly eating well!

Trying to mix the colors for the avocado was actually easier than I thought.  I was tempted to just pull out my Sap Green, but didn't.  And the "red-ish peach" background color was actually supposed to be orange.  But when I started mixing my colors, I stopped when this one started to appear.  I thought it made a pretty good background color for the greens of the avocado, the white plate, and the reflections on the spoon.

Double Kiss

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#002

I almost kissed the edge twice in this one!  Do these count?  lol  Also, realizing that I need to change my dark or shadow colors.  I've been using Prussian Blue and either Burnt Sienna or an Umber.  I'm going to start trying Ultramarine and practice mixing with yellows and reds.  Hopefully, that'll help put some life into my shadow areas.

The composition could've been better, too.  I've got a "row" of lemons, and then the spoon makes another row below it.  All that said, I did enjoy painting this..... the reflection on the spoon, the transparency of the cut lemon, and the shape and feel of the mortar.