Still life from life

[P. Barrie]

Its been raining here for over a week so my winter painting pace has begun a little early. This again was painted from direct observation. light from south facing sliding glass door. I’m not sure about the large light greenish squash on the left. Paint it out or darken values?

16” x 20”,oils on panel

 

[Jo Castillo]

I like this. Enjoying the view and the shawl adds a lot. I'm smiling.

 

[Dm7]

Beautiful painting. I don't think it's out of the place. They all look good to me! I like how you rendered the cloth's pattern.

 

[Brad]

Looks great, in part because of the light greens in the squash, not in spite of it.

 

[Enyaw]

Looks good to me.

 

[P. Barrie]

Jo, Dm7, Brad, Wayne, Much thanks to all!
It’s a WIP. Some smaller brush work, & value adjustments. I had to go back and forth between memory of the light and the changing intensity as the sun kept peeking from behind the clouds and blasting the scene.

 

[P. Barrie]

Well, i worked some more on this. The palette is unusually dark for me, not really the direction i want to go. Composition seems a bit random as well. Perhaps i need to plan my still life layouts better. If a friend or relative likes it, it’s theirs. Otherwise it gets filed with the rest of those WIPs.

 

[Artyczar]

This is still very good. You can always lighted the bottom left corner a bit. I like the light on the fruit. It's good!

 

[Donna T]

I like this a lot! Squash have such interesting and varied shapes and you featured them so well. In your first version it looks like the edge of the table top in the lower left was a little more defined. I wonder if you'd like to enhance that again, maybe just to add a tiny bit of interest there.

 

[P. Barrie]

Arty, Donna, thanks
The difference in the darkness, especially the lower left, is mostly due to the lighting in which the piece was photoed. Notice the much warmer color in the first posting. This is due to the photo being taken in lamp light, a wall sconce indirectly reflecting light. The second post was shot from light coming through the sliding glass door and is very under exposed due to it being very late afternoon on an overcast day. Perhaps i should take it outside and do it properly as recommended by Mark Carder.

 

[Donna T]

It's not just your photography making this look different, Patrick. My iPad and laptop show very different degrees of lighting in your painting! I didn't realize until now how different images can look. Mark Carder is such a good instructor. I look at his color mixing videos often.

 

[P. Barrie]

Thanks donna.
Another shot

 

[Artyczar]

I can see this one much better Patrick. I can see the corner of the table in the lower left corner now, whereas I could not before. I can also see the reflection of the darker fruit on the table too. Much better. And still a great painting!

 

[snoball]

This turned out beautifully Patrick. One thing you could do if you don't care for the composition layout is add a completely unexpected fruit or veggie right in the middle to tie them all together.

 

[P. Barrie]

Arty, Sno, thanks!
Sno, I like your idea. I had thought to turn the large center Acorn squash into a basket with some squash in it. Could be a WIP for awhile yet.

 

[P. Barrie]

I’m calling this almost finished for now. I think the basket makes a better focal point and adds to the composition.
Thanks again Sno. . Photo was taken in much better light.
What do you think?

 

[Artyczar]

WOW! This is so much improved! It's a clearer, more vibrant version.

 

[P. Barrie]

Thanks Arty

 

[Donna T]

Beautiful work on that basket! I like the changes very much!

 

[Perry]

Looks really good....nice comp.