'Go Figure' May 2008

[macrobertson]

A thread for posting just about anything, and a good opportunity to tell us news of happenings... for new members to introduce themselves, and for some that we wondered what had happened to... to tell us what did

My computer has been feeling bit off key lately, and has been taken away by a friendly repair man who is going to take a look at it... this seems to have coincided with the site here having an upgrade, and a we are going through a period of sloooow uploads... and downloads... and lack of emails etc. and some other strange things happening!

Hopefully this will all pass soon and we can hum along as normal

Mac

[JoshCurryArt]

I havent' done any figure painting recently but plan to shortly so I look forward to posting some of that soon!!

[trevors]

Something that I have been doing for an oil painting course that I decided to post here as I never go out of the figure forum in case I get lost!
Anybody for a drink?
Oil on linen 40 x 50

[PattJ]

I sold a floral watercolor painting today after the piece hung in a special show at a local gardens. Didn't have to cough up any commission, either, which is always a nice plus!
Pat

[kadon]

That's beautiful Pat. Congrats. Kathy

[sula]

Pat .........That's a truly stunning piece. Not surprised it sold .

Trevor......i've been playing with still lifes as well. That one of yours looks great............did you get to drink the wine as well?

I've returned to copying apples to see if can figure out this oil painting thing. I had a bit of a break though today, I think. This is my version of a work by Gregg Kreutz.........I seriously learnt heaps doing this so thought I'd post it.

A3 (~half the size of the original)


........will try my own pot tomorrow

[wandathefish]

Hey, Trevors, Pat and Brad. You make me ashamed that i havent been at the easel since I think August. i will have forgotten my colors and have to go back to kgarten to learn them, HA! So Brad, tell us what you learned from copying this gorgeous painting. I once watched a video of Kreutz's teacher painting a still life and he painted it with very small brushes, one carefully placed stroke at a time. i was crazy by the end of the show. I am a scrubber and swisher, lol.

[Sonni]

And I thought I was being bad. Now I feel better--misery loves company. It's always nice to see what else folks do. Sorry I have nothing to offer up but a bunch of unfinished paintings--'n I ain't postin' them!

Trevor, your still life has an appeal, though you need to work on the shadow cast by the bottle. Shadows are the darkest next to the object and fade out toward the edges. You have a hard edge there. If you try softening and graduating the value, I think you will be pleased with the effect.

Nice flower, Pat.

Brad, I have Gregg's PROBLEM SOLVING FOR OIL PAINTERS and find it very useful in theory, though I have a difficult time putting his good suggestions and examples into action--someday it will come. I can see his "touch" in your work.

[trevors]

Pat
really beautifull
Brad
Sure did and it was better than the painting !
Yours is really very smart and Fabulous colours!
Wanda
Good fun swishing and scrubbing!

Sonni
I had the shadow soft and my tutor made me darken it and harden the edges ? I do agree with you though!
I hate doing still lifes!

[Sonni]

Originally Posted by trevors

Sonni
I had the shadow soft and my tutor made me darken it and harden the edges ? I do agree with you though!
I hate doing still lifes!

Dunno what kind of a light you have on it, then. If you set up the bottle in enough light so it will cast a shadow you can study, you'll notice the shadow line will be darker and harder near the bottom of the bottle.. If light filters through the bottle, the shadow will lighten up in the center, reflect the color of the bottle and disolve to a darker opaque value as it spreads to the edge leaving an edge much softer than the bottle itself. The shadow edge will appear the hardest where it lies on the table in the space between the bottle and the wall, then crawl up the wall, softening as it goes up and away..

I used to have to do still lifes under the eye of Wayne Thiebaud. At the time I hated them. Now, decades later, I wish I had done more. Hind sight is 20/20 of course.

[sula]

Thanks Wanda………mostly I just had a change in perspective. ‘Til now backgrounds have been the bane of my existence. I've had no idea what to do with them. But these works have shown me that you don’t so much paint an object and then put in the background, but that it works much better if you actually pull the image out of the background colours themselves. You can see what I mean from this closeup of the pot. All of the shadow tones in the objects are really just the background colours coming through. It also saves on paint!

Thanks Sonni…………That’s exactly the book that the original work is from and I’m finding it very, very useful as well.

Thanks Trevor…Looks like painting wine is a lot more fun that pots, I can see a nice red on my rack that obviously needs painting .

[wandathefish]

Hey, yes i can see how you brought the greens into the pot. i especially like how the reds from the apple are just bouncing around on the pot. Great job! i admire this style of painting. Still life are to me very demanding because you have got to make these static objects interesting, if not compelling in ordr to get people to stop and look. Much thought and pre planning. Then the skill to represent all the various surfaces. Gosh, I just talked myself out of trying it, HA!

[sula]

Originally Posted by wandathefish

Hey, yes i can see how you brought the greens into the pot

Ahh.....Wanda that's the trick. I didn't really bring the green into the pot. Metaphorically, I actually brought the white into the background and just painted a big highlight.............

[sula]

Originally Posted by wandathefish

........... I just talked myself out of trying it, HA!

No......don't talk yourself out of it. Go for it.........

[trevors]

Sonni

Dunno what kind of a light you have on it, then

Just the oil lamp and some ambient light!

Your description of painting shadows sounds very good but at the moment I struggle to make a bottle look like a bottle!

Thanks for the advice!