Still Life Demo

Panetonne e caffè
10" x 8" oil on linen panel

These are the steps I took in painting this Italian delicacy called Panettone which is basically a small fruit cake. Enjoy!

Here's the set up. It's just a cardboard box with a small 'window' cut out of the top and the front face removed. This allows for great control over the lighting - especially the shadow shapes which are so important. Thanks to David Tanner for showing me how effective this is.

You can see the shadows are well defined here. Always choose a subject that interests you. I happen to be a fan of Italian fruit cake! The coffee was fresh brewed too! Choose objects which have a good contrast - like the white plates against the black - and the rich cake color against the white of the plate. You might also choose things which have emotional contrast or things which are thematically harmonious - you get the idea.

The drawing. Don't be too hasty here get the drawing right... Try to arrange the shapes on your canvas as interestingly as possible. Composition is so important!

There are so many ways to approach a painting. I chose a method which is popular among plein air painters: Laying in the darkest shadow shapes first.

Another approach is to put down the colors which are easiest to identify. That's what I did here. I purposefully kept the brushstrokes energetic here.

I went back the addressing the shadows here. In this lighting - these shadow areas are the richest in color.

Making progress... I'm starting to evaluate edges - hard vs. soft

Finito!


Detail (1)

Detail (2)

Pomegranates

8" x 10" oil on linen panel

Happy New Year everybody! I continue with my series of still lifes. I find that painting these as opposed to plein air landscapes really works with my schedule and family life. I'm able to set up somewhere in the house instead of going off into the garage studio to paint. I'm isolated enough from my family as it is. I usually throw down a piece of black velvet which absorbs much of the light and makes for a nice value contrast.

detail (1)

I even pulled out the quinacridone red for this one. It worked nicely for some of the cooler reds.

Lemon Meringue Pie

14" x 11" oil on linen panel

detail

Pacific Grove - Thanksgiving week 2009

10" x 8" oil on linen panel

detail (1)

detail (2)
-So much to be thankful for...
I find painting helps me to more deeply
enjoy the beauty found in nature.

I'm going to sneak back in here and act like I hadn't posted in over a year! Here's a sketch I did during Thanksgiving week. Thankfully, the weather was gorgeous for the couple of days we were in Monterey.

Lover's Point - Pacific Grove, CA

10" x 8" oil on linen panel

detail

Casa De Estudillo - Old Town San Diego, CA

I found this photo online... built in 1827 - 1829. That's about as old as it gets in California!

8" x 10" oil on linen

detail

Alejandra's taquitos!

These were potato and green chili taquitos... perfection!

8" x 10" oil on linen (detail)

Melting Sundae

Painting this from life was a lot like painting a sunset from life... If I had it to do over, I would have made sure that ice cream was SUPER COLD and not barely frozen! It all happened so quickly...

8" x 10" oil on linen (detail)

I apologize for the long lay-off...

Mexican Pastry

This is a continuation of my "kitchen still lifes". I find them enjoyable and am building up a body of work with this theme.

8" x 10" oil on linen (detail)

Reclining figure study

I painted this a couple of weeks ago with our small but faithful figure painting group here at Disney.

11" x 14" oil on linen (detail)

Fechin and Leyendecker sketches...

I had a chance several weeks ago to visit the J.C. Leyendecker exhibit at the Fullerton Museum of Art. I was so impressed. That level of drawing skill is rare! I did a couple of sketches there at the museum. The large sketch is from a Fechin book I have.

Burbank alley - Equestrian Distrct

Painted this one with painting pals James 'monkey boy' Martin and William 'dirty beauty' Wray!

10" x 8 " oil on linen (detail)

Head Study

A group of us at Disney get together and paint from the model every other week. Here's one from a few sessions ago. I'm concentrating on the drawing more.

16" x 12" oil on linen (detail)

Gouache dog studies...

These are on Arches Cold Pressed paper
They are about life sized when exanded.

Still getting to know the medium. The Scottie is such a cool shape to work with...

Cambria Coast

I painted this one in the studio. I think this is starting to look more like my oils. I'm trying to treat the gouache paint like oils... picking up piles of paint instead of all washes. The hardest thing to get used to is the values changing as the paint dries.

5" x 7" gouache on paper

Psa 89:9 You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them.

I did these two small sketches Saturday morning. I was about 95 degrees by the time I finished the second one... at 11 a.m.!

gouache on paper
3" x 4.5"

Nathan Fowkes' gouache studies inspired me to give them a try... you can find his blog in my links section - well worth your time I'd say!


Psa 103:15-17 As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children..."

These two sketches were done on location in Sonora, CA during the annual "Gold Country Plein Air" show...

Merced River

8" x 10" oil on linen

It was explained to me that this is the carcass of a very famous choo choo.
"The Canonball Express"
http://www.tvacres.com/trains_caseyjones.htm

8" x 10" oil on linen

Enough sweets for a while...

8" x 10" oil on linen

(detail)

Late night snack... I wonder if the diet I've been on lately is contributing to my choice of subjects? Hmmmm....

10" x 8" oil on linen

(detail)