(Again, I appologize for the wide page. Please click on “May 2009″
under “Archives” on the right, to get a skinnier page.)

Up until yesterday, I didn’t have a plan as to what my first painting
would be, but as I was cutting up a salad last night the beautiful red
apples in the stark white bowl totally caught my eye. I got that creative
urge, so I knew that this had to be my first piece. After some help from
my husband, we came up with “First Fruits” for the name of this painting.
The first of many, and hopefully the standard from which my skill
level will rise in the coming month.  Here’s a look into my studio which
is an extra bedroom in our home. I am very blessed to have this room,
and have been so excited this past week as I painted it and
reorganized /arranged the room in preparation for this week.

I place my easel on the left side of my still life because I am right
handed, I like to have the object I’m painting on my right hand side.
You can see my glass palette on the right, as well
(without paint at the moment), and my little cart which holds
all the other items I need on my left. That little bundle on
the far left is my puppy, Seneca. She slept suportively while
I painted, today.

Here is my beautiful still life. I love painting apples, and am
drawn to the subtleties of the white on white.  I placed the
still life by the window and let the overcast morning light
my set up. This was one of my first mistakes – not checking
the weather forcast. After painting for about an hour, the
dim overcast lighting changed to bright sunlight, and then
changed back and forth as clouds passed in front of the
sun for the rest of the day. This created huge problems for
me – I wasn’t sure if I could pull this painting out.
Every light, shade, edge, and color changed every 5 minutes
or so. I am an honorary plein aire painter. (One who paints
outside dealing with lighting changes, sun movements and
completes a painting in one sitting).

I don’t usually do this, but today I started off with an aqua wash.
Normally a burnt Sienna wash is used, but I decided to be bold
and crazy, today. I left some parts of the underpainting visable
for a little burst of color amid all that white.

I took a short break after blocking in some of the larger shapes.
It was obvious at that point that I needed to make some
corrections. That bowl really gave me some problems.
So many odd angles. I spent my last session making needed changes.

#1First Fruits10x10 oil on linen

And here is my little gal – difficult to work hard
when the cute level is so high in the room.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Posted by Rebecca in May 2009 |