Monday, January 3, 2011

Happy New Year to all

I’ve just had a wonderful week off and spent most of it painting. Sick of all the unfinished paintings littering my studio, I’ve taken up work on a still life of oranges and lemons in a silver bowl. This painting dates back to the Renaissance class I took with James Aponovich in 2007. In my notes from this time, I believe it was started at the beginning of the class when Marcus Greene filled in for James, still on holiday in Italy.

It’s quite absurd, as you can see, fantastic – and I don’t necessarily mean that in a good way. It’s impossible in concept and improbable to the nth degree. The sky and the oranges, lemons, raspberries and marble-like balustrades were pretty much completed, with the mountain background. Uncompleted but washed in were the silver dish and the scarf. And the outcropping of rock was sketched in without form or texture of any kind. The scarf is a lush affair of purple and blue that my good friend Barbara gave me. Part of it is sheer and part satiny. The purple looks different depending on the light, and there is a pattern of Chinese dragons in blue.

I had to take inventory of blues and violets by creating a color guide for the scarf. I chose a mix of Williamsburg cobalt blue and WN permanent rose for the dark and light values of purples and violets and WN Windsor violet (dioxazine – a modern dye) to push the color in the mid-tones. I used variations of manganese blue and the cobalt for the dragon. I made a bit of progress on the scarf, apologies again for the photography. Most of the scarf is hidden in the shine of the flash.

I also got a bit done on the silver dish, which I set up in front of a painting with a huge sky and greenery. I was able to use bits and pieces of stuff to mimic the reflections, but in the end it’s just made up by following the curves on the dish and how they reflect the light.

The dragon pattern takes the most time. The scarf is about three-quarters completed, full of complicated folds and satiny highlights. What was I thinking???

I will probably eliminate the outcropping all together. I think it will improve the composition. It sucks the way I painted it, anyhow, and it’s a major distraction.

By the way, I just got an email from Mary Graham, a fellow student back at NH Institute days with a link to her new website. And she is Fantastic! This time I mean it in a very good way! Her work is just lovely! Check it out: http://www.marygrahamstudio.com