Still Life

4.11.12

4.1.12

3.27.12

Painting Class - June 29 - July 8

I spent 3 sessions on this painting. I think it's the most "realistic" painting I've done. Really looking at color and value, shadows, highlights, etc. I worked on it for 2 sessions and was ready to move on to something else but Susan encouraged me to continue and push it a little further. I'm glad I continued to work on it.

Painting Class - June 15 and 17

Same subject, different view but this time the bowl and pitcher were on a white paper towel so it lessened the colors being reflected up on to them. I like the apple here.

Painting Class - June 8 and 10

It's been awhile since I posted anything from my painting class. This still life was fun to paint. Just shows how much color is in white!

Bananas Farnsworth

Next week I'm heading off to Monhegan Island for a whole week of painting. A former watercolor instructor I had a few years ago is running a workshop called "The Race - Monhegan Studies". It's based on a story that Robert Henri (The Art Spirit) and a few other artist - George Bellows, Rockwell Kent, Leon Kroll, and Randell Davey - came to Monhegan in the early 1900's and made a gentleman's wager amongst themselves to see how many paintings they could do in a day in the weeks to come.They felt this was the best way to get acquainted with the island and experience as much of its uniqueness as possible in the short time they had. This became known as “THE RACE” and it created some of the most beautiful studies ever painted of Monhegan Island by these very same painters.

Now, I don't think I'm going to "race" but I hope to paint at some interesting locations and sharpen my plein air skills. See you in a couple of weeks!

Painting Class - June 1 and 6th

Ron wanted me to copy a painting of his for my next exercise. I worked on this for two classes - about 5 hours. I didn't get to some of the final details but I did OK with color, drawing, and edges. Oil on panel - 11x14.

Painting Class - May 25th and 27th

I actually had 2 nights to complete this painting. That's almost 6 hours. It turned out pretty close in color and the drawing was fairly accurate too. It's no masterpiece and I don't think I want to paint that red blanket again anytime real soon but as study and exercise, I'm pleased with it and feel I'm making some progress.

Painting Class - May 20

I think this is one of my best oil paintings to date. I like the way it all came together. I worked out overall values, drawing, color, and composition in a nice controlled but organic way and then started getting into the details at the right time. I didn't finish it but I think I could with the foundation I built for it.

Painting Class - May 18

This is kind of a bizzarre still life that Ron set up for a few of us. I didn't want to paint it at first but soon found myself immersed in the challenge of it. A reflective pig placed in this shell-like-something-or-other. The challenge I had with it was I kept getting into the details before I had the overall colors and values established. This is oil on panel (11x14)

Painting with Colin Page - Day 2

Yellow Pepper (Oil on panel - 11"x8")

Two Oranges (Oil on panel - 11"x6")

2 Apples (Oil on panel - 8"x10")

Reflection on Green Apple (8"x10")

Day 2 was rainy so we painted in the studio at the Farnworth Art Museum in Rockland. Colin had set up some still lifes and started the class with a demo. The morning exercise wast work with a limited palette of Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow, and French Ultramarine Blue. Colin described these colors as a warmish palette versus the palette he limited us to in the afternoon when we only used Quinacradone Red, Lemon Yellow, and Prussian Blue. In addition to using a limited pallette, he also limited our brush size to a size 8 flat brush. Here is a short video of Colin introducing the afternoon exercise.

So it was kind of hard to tell at the end of the day when we stood back and looked at all of our paintings which pallette was which but kind of interesting that this limited palette pushed us toward finding the colors we needed. The top two paintings were done in the morning and the bottom 2 were done in the afternoon. It was a great class and I met some great folks and learned some great things.

Some other great things to note:

• Put stroke down and leave it alone.
• Paint faster in the long run by slowing down.
• Clean brushes
• Don’t fuss.
• Stay with a big brush as long as you can.
• Be intentional.
• Show everyone how much fun you are having

Painting Class - May 13

A lesson in edges. They get fuzzier as the recede and sharper up close. This isn't really new information but it is amazing that I still need to remember it - and apply it! Oil on panel (12x16)

Painting Class - May 11

Another exercise in getting the color right. Peppers are not easy objects - they absorb and reflect so much light and color plus they have this delicious transparency. I felt more successful with the watermelon. Oil on panel (12x16)

Painting Class - May 6

An exercise in seeing color, mixing paint and putting it to canvas. Oil on panel (11x14)

Painting Class - April 27, 2011



I missed a few painting sessions because I was travelling (sketches to come) so this was my first class back since the April 13th class. This still life was a bit more complicated than the last one - with more colors, textures and complexity of shapes. Still working on the same issues though. I made the mistake of getting into the details before I got the overall values correct. One way to avoid that is to step back from the painting frequently. If it's "holding together" from a distance, move forward and find where it begins to "fall apart" and correct it until it comes together no matter how close or far away you are.