Psychedelic Servers

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#039

Stars, a desert landscape, a hand, and an easel. I'm beginning to feel like I'm finding figures in the clouds. ha!

The weekend sneaked up on me. So glad that tomorrow I get to paint with my friends here in Big Canoe. Hopefully, I'll have a weekend painting to post. Hope your weekend is great!

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) 

Three Ordinary Olives

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#036

Can you tell that this is a small cocktail fork? These are also very small salad olives. I like the larger olives - especially the ones stuffed with blue cheese or jalapenos, or better yet, the Calamata type from the olive bar at the grocery store. I didn't have any of those... I guess I ate them, or they ended up in a Bloody Mary somewhere along the line. The good ones are always the first to go.

I actually tried painting this from a photo today, leaving my props set-up for an occasional referral. I'm glad I did because the olives dried up quickly and weren't as shiny. So besides being ordinary, they were also dull! ha!

Steps I took, below...

Step 1:  Sketched it in, paying
attention to value, and
double checking
composition.

Step 2:  Grabbed my greens
and tried to catch the
swirling motion in the
silverware.

Step 3:  Filled in my color, making sure
not to lose my drawing. Saved shadows
and highlights until the end.

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)

Weird Slice

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#034

Today was another one of those days when I didn't really have time to paint, so I hurried through this one just so I didn't miss the day. I tried to slice the apple a little differently, but instead of adding interest, it just looks cumbersome. I decided to go ahead and share anyway because it may be the only one I get to this week.

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!

Claudia's Teapot

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#032

Painting with friends is so fun! We set  up this still life today (all four of us using different mediums), and painted this peach colored teapot that Claudia brought. (I didn't like the color with the lemons, so I changed it.... artist parlay ... I mean prerogative).  It's so fun painting with friends because, if you're painting with the right people, you learn and get inspired from each other.  Today was no different.  I was actually challenged by one friend to put my crutch down (raw umber) and use compliments for all shadows. Viola! Not perfect, but very colorful for me!

Hope you all have a great weekend!