More Glass and Cast

I had a dream last night that my painting "Water Glass and Carrots" 11"x14", oil on linen, would look better if I added a pair of glasses, so when I woke up this morning that's the first thing I did. That's a wrap on this one.

I'm slowly crawling across the form of the lion. I decided to start with the top of the face and then fan out from there, just in case I don't get to finish the entire body, I'll still have the center of interest. It's very difficult to judge the value of turning forms that are parallel to the light source and adjacent to light areas. They either look darker than they really are or washed out. I stuck with that right cheek until I worked it out. My figure drawing instructor, Sam, blew my mind by pointing out to me how subtle forms on the figure throw cast shadows that affect the look and feel of the terminator line and give valuable insights about the form before you even start modeling. Once I started really seeing it my eyes started spinning in my head. So many things to take note of it's mind boggling.

More Glass and Carrots

A bit more work on this one. Background and table will be next and then it's time for some tweaking here and there. It's a little sunken in so I won't know until I oil out near the end what parts are working and which areas need more work. I like to oil out by using a mix of 60% oms to 40% refined linseed oil. I brush it on and then gently pat most of it off with a Viva paper towel. I also found that the last oil out is the best time to take the final photo because the colors are up without looking too glossy as it does when you spray with retouch varnish, so you don't get the glare spots.

More Water Glass

I'm a bit further along now. I started with the carrots, perishables first, than the glass and small goblet. I tried to get the carrot color exactly right without overdoing the detail. I want the water glass to be the main attraction, even though the carrots have a lot more chroma. Kind of like a Watteau painting where Gilles manages to stand out in spite of being surrounded by colorful characters.

"Apples" and "Water Glass" Rub-In

Here's the finished painting "Apples and Jug", oil on linen, 9"x12", and the underpainting for "Water Glass and Mirror", 11"x14". The apple painting is not quite as dark as it looks here. I darkened it down in photoshop to get rid of some of the glare. I'm going to have to give it another go before I post it to my website. It's taking me a little bit of time to figure out the nuances of my new studio lighting arrangement. The "Water Glass.." on the other hand looks exactly right, go figure. My process on the water glass so far was to make an exact size, pencil drawing , using the straight line method of blocking-in. Then I traced it and transfered it using hard vine charcoal. Next I inked the drawing and did an open grisaille wipe out using burnt umber and black (the black keeps the paint from drying up too quickly). Today I managed to get a few hours in before the holiday guests arrive, and I rubbed in the basic color scheme. I find this technique to be working very well for me and I may stick with it for a while. I'm pleased with the way the frottis (rub-in) came out. It already has the feel that I want the finished piece to have, so I have to remember to keep the overall simplicity and the "big look" as I begin to windowshade in the form painting and details.