Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Painting a simple still life - I

Three Apples still life, class demonstration • photo © 2011 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Beginning with the drawn-in composition from the last post, it's now time to get out the paint. It is all too human to hear the siren call of little tiny detail – and much trickier to remember to see the big picture (see my posts on Seeing the Big Picture - I, II, and III).

Resist the call! Blocking in the big shapes of the painting will establish your composition, give you a sense about values, and get the white canvas covered. Getting the canvas covered is more important than you may think. If you focus on establishing detail in one or two areas of the painting, and ignore the white of the canvas in other places, that white will become more and more important, and you may feel more hesitant about what to put there. As you wait longer and longer to get something down, it gets harder and harder to decide. Skip the frustration by putting something down right away!

Three Apples still life, class demonstration • photo © 2011 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Once you've got the big shapes blocked in – working all over the canvas – then you can begin to break those big shapes into smaller and smaller areas –

The process of painting is like a conversation. At the beginning of the conversation, you will be doing most of the talking (painting). But remember to pause and listen... the painting will have things to tell you – things you won't know unless you stop, back up, look, and listen. Turn it upside down! Let it talk to you. Sometimes you'll need to wait. Don't charge back into the painting until you know where the painting wants to take you next. When in doubt, keep listening.
Three Apples still life, class demonstration • photo © 2011 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Here, I'm pushing the values darker – these apples needed a little more solidity. The darks won't stay that dark – but I need these darks underneath, to make everything work the way I want it to. Remember, this is a process – don't expect the middle of the process to look anything like the end. The middle of the process is like green goo – it can get pretty ugly. Don't judge it! Just hang in there, and keep going on to the next step.

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