Let's paint oils from life!

[Enyaw]

That's impressive speed. I like it It is very interesting to see your interpretation of the colours, compared to your photograph. What your eyes captured is more interesting then what the camera captured.

Thank you. Cameras lie. My color is closer to the cup colours. I did change the value on the inside of the cup as I am far from a purist and decided I liked it better that way. I could have rounded the cup better but being a study it's not overly bad. Most of my study comes from looking at the finished piece and as I paint alla Prima I carry it forward rather than fix it.

 

[Enyaw]

The cast shadow is curious, I like it. That's a fair reason to stop painting: have a cup of coffee.

Yes, the lights in my studio are overhead and I was getting two overlapping shadows from what I could see on the paper towels. I had trouble discerning their colours so I implied a little more purple to push the green of the cup.

 

[Enyaw]

Thank you Grotius. I am amused when people say no drawing just direct painting. No painting draws itself.

 

[Enyaw]

As for the pre posted paintings, they are superb. This should be an interesting thread.

 

[triss]

wirfi - Gorgeous colour, and some beautiful marks on those fabric highlights to admire!

ntl - Mostly I drop the sticks I'm working with into a lidded plastic box when I'm done, but I do put them away in their tubes when I'll not be using them for a while.

Wayne - I always drink the coffee (and end up painting a lot of empty mugs). I like the purples added into the shadows, and I love your eye for muted colour.

 

[Artyczar]

Arty, your exhibition plans are interesting to read. Thank you for writing about it. Since your yearly income depends on this exhibition I would say it's a very lucky thing that there is this particular gallery who shows your work and also makes effort to find clients. Yes, I think 3 weeks is very little time per one painting to prepare. I can not even imagine how much work is to fill entire gallery walls with paintings. I just found yesterday "Art Talk" forum and I saw there pictures of your latest sales exhibition, it was interesting to read but I didn't quite understand why the dates went wrong to the brochure!? Will you be posting photos and updates of your 2022 Gallery Exhibition to "Art Talk" too? Will be checking there ..

Yes moscatel, I will probably make a thread as I begin to make and collect all the pieces for my 2022 show (as it gets nearer and as I plan it out). I'll post them in the Art Talk Forum. Thank you for the idea! I already have a few I'm using for the show that were finished over the last several years, but I must add many more new ones.

The Open Studio Tour I did last month went horribly because they misprinted the catalogs: my address, the times I was participating, where I was located on the map, and a few other incorrections. It cost me. But it's over now and I'm back to work. Nothing I can do about the past. Thanks for asking! I still made a little bit of money, just not as much as I could have, so it's still okay.

 

[Dm7]

Hey everyone, time for me to catch up! It's awesome that a lot of you are participating in this thread. It's a joy to see!

@moscatel "Still Life with Kohlrabi and Red Onions" turned out great! I like how you changed the composition when it didn't work out in the first try. You have a beautiful way of controlling the colors and values here. And your brushwork is always excellent!

Your pumpkin piece also looks great! How come do you think it's a disaster? I love how you dealt with pumpkin's vibrant patterns, so sweet!

@Lazarus That's where still life comes in. You don't have to go out! I'm sure you have some interesting objects to try. Or do what I sometimes do when the weather's not in my favor, stay indoor and paint by the window. The objective of this thread is to study from life. It doesn't have to be something big.

@ntl Aye, it feels good to know that I'm actually using my supplies to the point where I run out of them because a while ago I thought I've wasted my money because I wasn't using them as often as I should be. Anyway, I got my stuff, so I should be good for a while! As a bonus, I found my new favorite online art supply store - they ship faster than any other shops I've tried so far. Yay for it. Why online you may ask, well, that's one problem of living in the middle of nowhere. Gotta drive 30 min to 1 hour to reach a decent shop or place for art supplies.

Your "Burning Bush" has turned out beautifully! It's certainly burning with red color! Limited palette, you say? If you don't mind, I'm curious which colors you've used for this one?

@P. Barrie Beautiful apples! The lighting certainly gave it an unique touch. It gives me the feeling of a fresh morning, barely awake with the coffee aroma in the air with the sunlight tingling my sleepy brain. Yup, that's what I feel from your piece. Beautiful usage of colors. I like how you interpreted the reds and greens on the apples, and the highlights are perfect!

@triss Thanks, I got my supplies, so all is good again! I love how you did the shapes on your Scroll sketch piece. It feels, for the lack of better words, very rhythmic. I also like how sketchy/raw it is, yet it's clean too.

@wirfi Wow, your apples and lime piece is so vibrant. I like how deep the reds are, yet it blends beautifully with yellows and greens. The highlight on this one apple is probably my favorite, it has this golden glow that I absolutely love! I also like how you did apples' stems. Good forms overall and the values are magnificent!

@Enyaw Beautiful!!! Maybe next time make two servings of coffee and let one be a still life study while you enjoy your cup. I know when I want coffee, I want it now, not later. Anyway, I gotta salute you for completing it! 30 min is also impressive. Great choices of colors. I like how you use a bit of blue and purple for the shadow, I feel it complements well with the dark forest green mug. It really does! Well done!

Keep up the good works, everyone! My plan was to do some still life painting today, but I was feeling a little too drained, so decided to chill for now. I'll see how I feel tomorrow. I'm excited to try out my 2 new colors (yes, every time I get new art supplies, I have to get 1 or 2 new colors to expand my already-too-many-colors oil paint collection). What I got is green gold and transparent red ochre. I absolutely can't wait to try them out. I think they'll be great for autumn style still life... and I wouldn't want to miss it because winter's approaching pretty fast!

 

[Enyaw]

Thanks dm7. I figured I would paint an empty cup next time and keep my coffee cup on the other table. I think the shadows on the painting are lighted Irl but cameras are what they are. It was fun and I'll try a few small studies before I try anything complicated.

 

[Enyaw]

Thanks Triss.

 

[Lazarus]

That's where still life comes in. You don't have to go out! I'm sure you have some interesting objects to try. Or do what I sometimes do when the weather's not in my favor, stay indoor and paint by the window. The objective of this thread is to study from life. It doesn't have to be something big.

Thank you. i appreciate you comment for motivation.

 

[Dm7]

"Pumpkin And Teapot" 30x20 cm on canvas panel. Btw, I never know how to title them properly, so if you have a better name for it, I'm all ears! Also, new Transparent Red Ochre was definitely a good add to my collection. So is Gold Green! What I did was using Red Ochre as underpainting instead of my usual raw or burnt Umber and use a big brush to see how far I can in simplifying the forms with it. Did I succeed? Well, I feel happy with the result, but I know I can do better. It took me approx 2 hours, maybe a bit more.

Here's my wip and my still life setup.

 

[Enyaw]

Wow. That is really nicely done. Beautiful color with loose motion carrying the load.

 

[wirfi]

@wirfi , amazing work. How did you pull of that subtle lighting around the old t shirt? The dark and light passages are neat.

Sorry, I might have missed your question before.
Well, to start off I controlled the light, using a cardboard box over the subject, with a hole in it and an extra spotlight for additional light through the hole (there were also other lights in the studio, spilling in some light).
Then I painted in a couple of layers. I also did a glaze with ultramarin behind the fruits, and then added some touch of corrections above that.
I have not been in the studio for a couple of days know, I hope it's not filled with fruitflies at the moment haha.

 

[P. Barrie]

Dm7, real fine brushwork with the large brush. Great piece.

 

[Dm7]

@Enyaw Thank you I'm glad you like it.
@P. Barrie Thank you! I'm glad you like my brushwork.

Now that I have slept on it, I realized I should have worked more on the pumpkin, since at the moment, it's too smooth. I am just not sure how to interpret all the grooves on the pumpkin with a large brush. That's why I decided to leave it as it is, but now I'm not so sure if that was wise. I'm debating on if I should work more on it today or leave it be. The reason I try to keep it timed is in this way I can paint faster and learn from my mistakes, so my next piece is better and more efficient.

 

[Enyaw]

SD .. Maybe the handle with a half value less would work. Quick and dirty.

 

[triss]

Dm7 - Wonderful work with your large brush, love how you've caught both the bold colours and the subtle ones so beautifully. The simplification appeals to me, and I'm glad you decided to take some time to decide if you wanted to do more work on it. I usually fall into the trap of fiddling and adding more detail, then wishing I hadn't.

 

[ntl]

Wayne, good work on the cuppa joe!

DM, Nice piece! I too, think you succeeded. Pumpkin shadow and reflections and shadows on pot are well done.

 

[ntl]

Another Burning Bush! ~4.5x6" oil on Canson Canvas paper. I missed the heavy fog yesterday, and it was snowing today--big,fat flakes. Sadly I didn't get a photo of the falling snow, but it is a gray day.
First the bush, then my "not plein air" palette. It's what I generally use in the house when not painting in my studio. Today I used white, cobalt blue, cad orange, lemon yellow, black, burnt umber, thalo red rose, alizeron crimson. Even in these small spaces, I double up with some colors: 3 blues, 2 or 3 yellows, 3 reds, 2 greens, (I mixed my own for this painting) raw and burnt sienna, burnt umber and ivory black.
I left some white areas in both bushes, they had patches of snow on them when I started.

 

[Artyczar]

Nicely done ntl!