I’m sorry this is late.
I’m not sorry that my first post of this new year is about art. Hopefully there will be many more this year focusing on my art.
In my second to last art class, we walked in to see tables set up around a massive still life scene.
I’ve never really painted a still life before. I chose my seat and used a full size easel for the first time. I’m addicted to using one now.
Anyway, after moving things around a bit, I came up with this set up to paint:
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For the background, I wanted a nice natural blueish color. What I came up with was a little darker than intended, but I still liked it enough to not take the time to paint over it. I wanted to use a natural lighter tan for the base before putting in the objects.
After the background and base colors were established, I wasn’t sure how I wanted to go about starting the actual objects. We were told the best approach is to slowly add layers so that each object was in the same state of completeness.
Following these instructions, I blocked out the objects in white, off white, light blue, light yellow, and light green.
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After blocking out everything, I then added shading using matte medium and black much like the landscape we did previously. I don’t have a picture of this middle step, sorry! After the shading, I started detailing the taller bottle and the lemons and limes.
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Sorry the lighting is a little off on this one.
Our last class we were given the opportunity to finish any of our paintings and I chose to work on this still life.
I started by detailing the objects. My instructor and I both agreed that the background was too flat and didn’t fit in with the rest of the painting. I noticed that there was a black smudge on the top left of the painting, so to add some pizzazz and texture, I used a really watered down white, tan, and sometimes black and smudged it down with my finger and more water. I really loved the effect and it transformed the painting.
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At home, I made some updates and added the cloth on the table.
I hate those flowers, so I tried to create the background color again. It took a few attempts to recreate it, but I added the slightly later shades to the background. I really dislike the colors I used for the table, so I’m going to make it significantly lighter and give it more of a natural fold look. I might add a bit of yellow too. I also need to go in and add the background texturing over the newly changed background areas.
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Almost there!
Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
