After some final touches, I am declaring this painting finished. I repainted the foreground a couple of times until it looked right to me, because I didn’t like way the cloth looked in my real still life set up .  I also added a spoon in the foreground to give the picture plane more depth, as well as break up the horizontal shapes. It also helps to bring the viewer into the painting, and directs the eye to the flower and around the objects.  I adjusted the colors with glazes and the textures with  scumbles.  Painting the spoon was tricky because it had to integrate with the objects, while continuing the angle of the drapery in the back.  I wanted it to jump out at the viewer, but not look artificial.  The metal of the spoon contrasts nicely with the textures of the fabric, flower and porcelain. This is a better photo of the painting too, as I took it to my office where the lighting is much better.  Now it needs to dry for awhile before the final varnish coat.

This has given me an inspiration for a series of paintings, which I am eager to start. Feel free to leave a comment or ask questions.

The painting is almost done. Worked two more 6 hour days finishing the flower and teacup. Made some adjustments to the background fabric with glazes and started working on the foreground fabric. I am not quite happy with the foreground fabric yet. I will need to repaint it to make it look better, even though this is the way the fabric looks in my set up.

This has been a great learning experience in handling a realistic still life. I am planning several more still life paintings in 2012, as well as other subjects. I am never short of inspiration, only short of time in which to execute my ideas.  Hopefully, some day soon I will be able to devote all of my time to painting.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I was getting anxious to get back to this painting. After another 6 hours or so, I have finished the teapot, continued working on the cup and saucer and started blocking in the flower. In the next session, I should be able to finish the flower and foreground. After that, it will be a matter of making adjustments to color and value with glazes to finish it.

Sorry I have been incommunicado of late. Had to finish an art commission and was obsessive about working on the still life painting. I spent over 18 hours (working only by natural light) on repainting, adjusting, simplifying, and adding thin layers of paint. You might be able to tell on the coffee pot that thin layers were applied to emphasize the roundness of the form. My painting process is labor intensive, but I think it is worth it when I can achieve the three dimensional effect I am after. There are still many more layers to be applied, so it won’t be finished until January. I want this to be realistic and jump off the canvas.

This is the start of new series of still life paintings I have in mind.  I am excited about starting the next one, and may try working on two paintings at the same time.

Here is the first color pass. This is to establish the basic color notes, shapes and values of the satin. painting satin is trickier than you might think. It is very reflective and has light properties that you have to capture or it will look flat. The lightest lights (highlights) and darkest darks will be left until the end. I decided to change the front fabric a bit so it hangs better. This step took a little over two hours. Now this layer needs to dry while I work on the the other elements in the painting. How long will it take to finish this painting? Your guess is as good as mine. With only working on it a couple of hours at a time (not counting paint mixing and clean up) it may may be another week or so.

After the preliminary under painting has dried, it is time for the next stage. This is usually referred to as the “dead layer”. This refers to the stage that was used by the old dutch masters where they emphasized the lightest areas with white. These areas will support the color layers to produce the luminosity in those areas. This stage took another two hours.  As you can see, the painting has taken on more dimension already. This layer will be left to dry. The next step will be the first color layer.

I’ve been planning this painting for a long time and am finally getting to work on it. I had to find the right elements – teapot, tea cup, and stargazer lily – to get the look I wanted. Luckily, I already had gold satin fabric for the background. I was going to iron it, but the natural folds and shapes the fabric had were very pleasing to the eye. Here is the inital underpaining. I have blocked in the composition with raw umber and a lean painting medium over a medium gray toned 16 x 20 canvas. After the canvas was toned and dried, the block in took about two hours. I am excited about this painting because the colors are so rich. Stay tuned for the next step.

I decided that one by itself wasn’t enough. So I did another drawing-within-a-drawing. This one will look good hanging side-by-side with the other one. This piece was also done on white Strathmore pastel paper with pastel and sanquine. I used pastel to create the texture of the “paper” that is “taped to the wall”. The finished size is 16 x 20, which I will frame without a mat to preserve the illusion.

Whether painting or drawing, most artists usually try to hide their “labor” and make the art look effortless. Even though it may have taken years of art classes, and frustrating hours of practice to be able to execute a good work of art. But the truth is that nobody else cares about the little battles fought, the hundreds of decisions struggled with, or whatever anguish it takes to create a work of art. All that matters is the final product – both to the artist and the viewer. This is true for any art – painting, music, dance, etc. There is a certain amount of performance in all of the arts. Every work of art is like a well-rehearsed symphony that is executed for an audience we hope wants to listen, and will appreciate the finished product of our labor.

I Recently painted a commissioned piece for a client, who later told me that she likes to stare at it for long periods of time, and often sees new things in it. For an artist, that is like getting an Academy Award!! After all the time and creativity I put into the painting, it is incredibly gratifying to have someone really enjoy it. Every artist – starving or not – lives for the thrill of appreciation for their creative efforts. The fact that you can reach some one’s heart – be it through painting, dance, sculpture, music, etc. – makes all the blood, sweat and angst worthwhile! It validates you as a creator of beauty and something that matters. That is what inspires us to keep working at being a better artist and creating more meaningful work. At least, that’s the way it works for me.

This is the finished drawing that I have been working on. I wanted to create a trompe l’oeil drawing-within-a-drawing. Trompe l’oeil is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery used to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects appear in three dimensions. Some examples of this technique go back to Greek times.

The success of the illusion depends on a shallow field of depth, and a realistic handling of light on the image. As you can see, the light souce in the drawing is coming from the right side, which gets darker across the drawing and casts shadows to the left. The paper is white, so I had to tone it to add darker shades of grey on the left side.

This piece was done on white Strathmore pastel paper with pastel and sanquine. I used pastel to create the texture of the “paper” that is taped to the “wall”. The finished size is 16 x 20, which I will frame without a mat to preserve the illusion.

The model for the inner drawing was my ever-obliging husband. I got the idea for this drawing from a photo I took of a previous drawing of an arm and leg. I had taped it up to photograph it and, when I went to crop it in Photoshop, I really liked the image of the drawing taped up. I thought it would be a challenge and fun to do.