tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89494200068103886602024-03-20T12:57:16.258-07:00Susan's Musings (on the muse) and Painting TipsPainting tips as well as thoughts, musings, expoundings and confused meanderings from the right brain.Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-76481736329387353072016-09-05T20:01:00.000-07:002016-09-05T20:01:04.728-07:00Painting Alla Prima with Susan Martin Spar - New Video!<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you have subscribed to this blog then you know that it's been a really long time since I posted here. School and then new gallery committments and other personal matters have kept me away from teaching on line. But I'm slowly getting back into it. I may or may not choose to continue this blog but if I don't it will only be because I've moved it to another location in which case I'll notify you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I uploaded my very first teaching video today to You Tube! I'm pretty new to this although I've had the camera for a couple of years, I just haven't gotten around to using it. So I traded lessons for help from one of my students who has been acting as a studio assistant. Anna is a young lady who has taken a class on vidography, (hmm - is that a word?) and so she was willing to jump right in and help out. We're a little rough around the edges yet, but I thingk we're improving and will get better over time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I made this video for a student who lives in India and who takes lessons via Skype from me every week. I've been promising to do a demonstration for her for awhile now so we have her to thank for pushing me out of my rut and getting me started. Thank you Mamta! I hope this works for you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Although I've evolved into a indirect painter over the years since my alla prima days of being a daily painter, Mamta is interested in learning alla prima techniques so I gathered together a couple of apples and put together this exercise. I enjoyed the process so much, I think we'll be doing a bunch more over the coming year. More alla prima because the practice is good for me - and a variety of other subjects as well. Here it is. Hope you enjoy it. I would appreciate any feedback you may have. Say it nicely please. :-)<br /><br /></span><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/P5c6ORdtEzc" width="560"></iframe>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-29645964867195883632016-07-14T18:31:00.001-07:002016-07-14T18:31:26.648-07:00Studio Tour<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: black; color: #aadd99; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 18.2px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0.25em 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 4px;">
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<br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have recently started teaching through Skype. Of course Skype is a great tool but it makes it difficult for my students to see what I'm doing when I paint because I can't direct the camera on my computer. Sooooo...the obvious answer is video! Now I'm no veteran video artist so this requires a learning curve. I pulled out my video camera - which was brand new about three years ago and which I only used once. I know. Bad, right? But better late than never. So as a practice exercise, I decided to do a tour of my studio which one of my Skype students thought would be nice to see. I must warn you, however, that I failed to do any house cleaning when I shot this and it's pretty raw. But it will give you a very good idea of the space I work and create in. So, welcome to my studio. Hope you enjoy the stay. I wanted to offer wine, however, there just wasn't an option for that on YouTube. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal">
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Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-75086515832534877692009-12-05T12:46:00.001-08:002009-12-05T13:03:24.637-08:00How to paint Orchids and Tapestry<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieCtVzqoKuHzPuqaAYP_MOGq_a3QipcZMQhy8ntt5E_9Wg6xNwvnihhzvCjNGFNwH6p620jOOgH8JaPZ2D6bWEVwpvdZIgbWf7uvI3NL3XhmPpeyk8j3U2nAxwV0vcVwco2kf0u-3IBcbm/s1600-h/A+Balance.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411856586231802162" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 225px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieCtVzqoKuHzPuqaAYP_MOGq_a3QipcZMQhy8ntt5E_9Wg6xNwvnihhzvCjNGFNwH6p620jOOgH8JaPZ2D6bWEVwpvdZIgbWf7uvI3NL3XhmPpeyk8j3U2nAxwV0vcVwco2kf0u-3IBcbm/s400/A+Balance.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div></div><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Ok, Ok, I know it's been a long time since I published. But, hey, I've been studying at an atelier in Seattle twice a week and teaching all day on Wednesdays. That leaves me four days in order to be a wife, clean my house, paint two days and do homework on the fourth. I'm out of breath just thinking about it. But I'm making up for it - I've got a nice long lesson for you. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">In fact, it's so long, I've opted to put it on my website so that I could organize it better for you and make it go faster for myself. It still took me three hours to put it all together, so cut me some slack. The painting took about four weeks. Here's the finished piece, now just </span><a href="http://www.susanspar.com/Oil%20paint%20lessons.htm#Balance,%20Orchids%20with%20Red%20Tapestry"><span style="font-family:arial;">click here</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> for the lesson. If for any reason the link doesn't work, go to </span><a href="http://www.susanspar.com/"><span style="font-family:arial;">www.susanspar.com</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">, click on the link for "Student's Atelier" and then on the link for "Oil Painting Lessons and Still Life" and then on the link for "Lesson IV: Balance. Orchids and Tapestry". See you at the web page!</span></p>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-325853295444283782009-07-29T16:29:00.000-07:002009-07-29T18:13:53.599-07:00How to Paint a Magnolia Spray<span style="font-family:arial;">Summers are always a very busy time for artists. It's when things really come alive in the art community. Art fairs start happening, galleries are all a buzz, art walks get under way and studios open their doors for tours. And that's exactly what I've been up to. Since I started attending atelier with Tenaya Sims six months ago, I've barely had time to paint let alone put together a lesson. And then when summer came along, well, the first paragraph says it all.<br /></span><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Thanks to Facebook, I've recently been connecting with old friends and one of my teenage buddies just commissioned a small painting from me. So I thought that I might as well kick off a lesson while I painted. This time I remembered to set my timer so I could take photos at regular intervals.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">OK - here's the set up. My friend just wanted a spray of Magnolias without the attendant vase. Schucks! I really love painting vases, but alas, it was not to be. So the vase in the lower left hand corner will not be included in the painting. For the sake of expediency, I'll not be capitalizing the names of the paints. Now remember, the photo is for the sake of this blog. I NEVER PAINT FROM PHOTOS FOR FLOWERS! I emphasize this because it's something I'm adamant about. In fact, I almost never use photos except for the occasional landscape and then only because my bad and aching back doesn't allow for a lot of plein air junkets anymore. </span></p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpGP5eIq4xyE-o39BB16_12EXZq7PRX7P3_9T8jIXepG0aSLl9yMqdrhfUXbto44sUuCi-xkcSr2MH-0Tq6DDA7BPlCHKD2kji4Tmv4CcWHBd4xkueXG1cVAPdHTj3pdtVNrChSujaA6FK/s1600-h/A+Magnolia.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364029441915615474" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 276px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpGP5eIq4xyE-o39BB16_12EXZq7PRX7P3_9T8jIXepG0aSLl9yMqdrhfUXbto44sUuCi-xkcSr2MH-0Tq6DDA7BPlCHKD2kji4Tmv4CcWHBd4xkueXG1cVAPdHTj3pdtVNrChSujaA6FK/s400/A+Magnolia.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;"><br clear="left">I started with a sketch of the spray on a gessoed panel and then fixed it with spray fixative. Krylon spray will do for this. I followed up with a tone of raw umber - my preferred tone for floral underpaintings. Then I lifted out the lights trying to pay attention to where the shadows fell. I didn't worry too much about the stems as I paint them in last and can find them by just looking at the setup.Next I laid in a background of raw umber mixed with some cadmium yellow light, naples yellow and a tad of titanium white.<br /></span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3xA7im_5gN9SQf719DPTNyqY_AphUDsecOyzKnKQ41jZjHWKnFrbO7yO5z5VgWazE0jynObSyVmm0hXgDT1XN-zgQD0Gm2NAdk_7p0Ey2AWIBRFLat8s-FFL-HCsRfsmnBhLFlG9QdzSf/s1600-h/B+Magnolia.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364029447650985730" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 317px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3xA7im_5gN9SQf719DPTNyqY_AphUDsecOyzKnKQ41jZjHWKnFrbO7yO5z5VgWazE0jynObSyVmm0hXgDT1XN-zgQD0Gm2NAdk_7p0Ey2AWIBRFLat8s-FFL-HCsRfsmnBhLFlG9QdzSf/s400/B+Magnolia.jpg" border="0" /></a><br clear="left"><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">As always, I started laying in the shadow shapes keeping everything soft and not too sharp. The shadows were at this point a simple mix of ivory black, cadmium yellow and white - maybe a touch of ultramarine blue. The blue is sometimes a nice touch but not always necessary as ivory black is actually quite blue in tone. As a matter of fact, many of the masters used it before lapis blue became widely available. It's a credit to them that they managed, through a solid understanding of color theory, to make it look so blue.<br /><br />The reddish tones were added by the judicious use of a little Pouzzouli Red (more about this color later). The yellow tones by the addition of a mixture of yellow ochre and white.<br /></span><br /><br clear="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh39vEnkiSY_A7-jta6hV_Gv6ZNL-QvLImJW7-ruFrxmgqqIgDVVYX5R1O8OW7W3cOs842ET2CAoRWwPaKzEFxZfBbONUCvHlOhAomKRMHeQ0aUZbHnNFKyb0Eg8ELOf1D30AoYO1oer3SY/s1600-h/C+Magnolia.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364029454891629762" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 317px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh39vEnkiSY_A7-jta6hV_Gv6ZNL-QvLImJW7-ruFrxmgqqIgDVVYX5R1O8OW7W3cOs842ET2CAoRWwPaKzEFxZfBbONUCvHlOhAomKRMHeQ0aUZbHnNFKyb0Eg8ELOf1D30AoYO1oer3SY/s400/C+Magnolia.jpg" border="0" /></a><br clear="left"><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Of course the lights came next. Cool offsets warm and vice versa. I also used some of the background color to tie in the flowers with their background so they looked airy and not pasted on. Relative to the lights, the shadows are slightly cool. Thus the use of naples yellow and titanium white to make a warm white mixture is the trick here in making the lights pop. But here's another interesting and conflicting point - just to confuse you. Had I mixed a very small amount of ultramarine blue in with the white instead, it would have worked well also. That's because the cadmium in the shadows would have played off against the cool blue. Still, I like the way naples yellow brightens whites and I save a cool white for when I really want to throw a zinger in.</p></span><span style="font-family:arial;">At this point I wasn't laying the paint on too thick. I wanted to keep my edges soft and add the globs of paint that would give sharper edges to the blooms after I decided where they were necessary. Things look relatively flat at this point, but hold on to your paint brushes. Things will start to improve shortly.<br /></span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuJBape7J3HPqcfkusPBFeZct460CMecB0WwywJa9x_6K5gOMRMmBFMgDYF8vW9nqBktY_KtC1o5i5VwFombW117t7Q-K5Yqi7KMOiowE_eZM1-wyBa6qQ0d8w01UjPvSmeSJl7S-x7Iny/s1600-h/D+Magnolia.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364029457552300978" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 316px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuJBape7J3HPqcfkusPBFeZct460CMecB0WwywJa9x_6K5gOMRMmBFMgDYF8vW9nqBktY_KtC1o5i5VwFombW117t7Q-K5Yqi7KMOiowE_eZM1-wyBa6qQ0d8w01UjPvSmeSJl7S-x7Iny/s400/D+Magnolia.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Here I've started to paint in the smaller flowers and buds. You can see that I've also started to add some thicker paint. Notice that I do this on the petals that are coming forward in the flowers. In order to push the ones in the back ground back, you paint those petals flatter and thinner. Thick accents thin just as warm accents cool.<br /></span><br /><br clear="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh27JfeC_Sd9YgewHpMxMqUTyNgnNQPb-xqRwNJsVCL1p6B-RZgYzAv_RDHuHBaDJVjohhIoUJWprEbnyn4tjhp5INh25uVFMcTUwQOrJ3MomKqMYZ55xlbyZA2JKppW7joJpk5yU1FTJDs/s1600-h/E+Magnolia.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364029466151912914" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 324px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh27JfeC_Sd9YgewHpMxMqUTyNgnNQPb-xqRwNJsVCL1p6B-RZgYzAv_RDHuHBaDJVjohhIoUJWprEbnyn4tjhp5INh25uVFMcTUwQOrJ3MomKqMYZ55xlbyZA2JKppW7joJpk5yU1FTJDs/s400/E+Magnolia.jpg" border="0" /></a><br clear="left"><p>Here's a closeup of the flowers.</p><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEpAy4hpyPVnHqqYIEmrl1Vf94Dvx64nPws81vPI7-hlN-kfbL9UT_GNPP0KdzQXpq0KevNm3NpfHtN00HFHPAu-fXHlrFNE1hKvul-_WYS95voUpeeJe0T2BfrTXjjsjtHt_EaKB9vN8K/s1600-h/G+Magnolia.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364040415796638498" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 291px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEpAy4hpyPVnHqqYIEmrl1Vf94Dvx64nPws81vPI7-hlN-kfbL9UT_GNPP0KdzQXpq0KevNm3NpfHtN00HFHPAu-fXHlrFNE1hKvul-_WYS95voUpeeJe0T2BfrTXjjsjtHt_EaKB9vN8K/s400/G+Magnolia.jpg" border="0" /></a><br clear="left"><span style="font-family:arial;">Now on to the leaves. I generally don't carry a green on my palette but for for magnolias it's helpful to use a little thalo green. Now this is a very cool green because of a blue tint. Thalo is also a chemical color - not a natural pigment color. As a result, it has a very strong tinting strength and should never be used straight from the tube or in large amounts. I toned the thalo green with alizarin crimson which darkened it without warming it too much. Alazarin has blue in it and is a cool red. The use of cadmium red would have made the mixture too brownish (green/blue and red/orange cancel each other out). This cool mixture helped immensely when I got to the back side of some of the leaves which were a warm orangey color. Again, the play of cool against warm makes these leaves stand out.<br /><br />The highlights or lighter passages on the blue/green leaves were done with a lightened background mixture.<br /><br />For the orangey/brownish or golden leaves, I used a mixture of yellow ochre and touches of either naples hellow for the lighter parts or burnt umber for the darker shadows. As always, I laid in the shadows first!<br /><br /></span></p><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVoTAJkkPjxab3cjkEYiDkckAjpQvPolRkW6t7czIjRAbZSDQXsOoJSLWU6FwjB2UOfnalvwgO36xS8BXm8kuMOHysOxavJ_ur4tn_-J8nJYb_1PvyELCZY3x1q8C30WIUM0ZT_kxw3kUi/s1600-h/H+Magnolia.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364040418876906514" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 317px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVoTAJkkPjxab3cjkEYiDkckAjpQvPolRkW6t7czIjRAbZSDQXsOoJSLWU6FwjB2UOfnalvwgO36xS8BXm8kuMOHysOxavJ_ur4tn_-J8nJYb_1PvyELCZY3x1q8C30WIUM0ZT_kxw3kUi/s400/H+Magnolia.jpg" border="0" /></a><br clear="left"><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Here's a closeup of the leaves.</span></p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPNgA2Y0XmjvcsJHBbpDE1Bc2XtalKsKgjRN-rV8FViXay-0IbaINuch82QVjhKZ77BjGbnbkRnaBZHGTSSbUWYq2WjBfBvv2cpIbJItJEU92DVWOyZF8hjWej6OIef6Cs5V_mG-cF-MjH/s1600-h/I+Magnolia.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364040423867247746" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 306px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPNgA2Y0XmjvcsJHBbpDE1Bc2XtalKsKgjRN-rV8FViXay-0IbaINuch82QVjhKZ77BjGbnbkRnaBZHGTSSbUWYq2WjBfBvv2cpIbJItJEU92DVWOyZF8hjWej6OIef6Cs5V_mG-cF-MjH/s400/I+Magnolia.jpg" border="0" /></a><br clear="left"><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Lastly, before I put in the stems, I punched things up a bit. The central flower was lacking color, so I warmed up the blossom by laying in touches of warm reddish tones. The color I uses is Pozzuoli Red from Rublev. It's a natural pigment but very close to burnt sienna, except it's opaque rather than transparent as is burnt sienna. However, burnt sienna should work equally as well. A bit more yellow ochre in a few places and some pinkish tones from a mixture of cadmium red light and white, and the color was right.<br /><br />But I still wasn't finished. At this point, I sharpened some of the edges, deepened some of the shadows and thickened some of the lights. Then I added the center of the bloom with stamen.<br clear="left"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig9PZhFL_nLgniLMq4T6ZKt3azYQLLS5_2lyTk8LVK6lLM3cG8ueuTQctyCHp-WjJInOGe0X4RZXPqHy-38EYLPH0zQBuuhsMAEFYVZC-HulmA30tt-S9JUV0yoT2EqnNPR06908BMC0VY/s1600-h/J+Magnolia.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364048444504750002" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig9PZhFL_nLgniLMq4T6ZKt3azYQLLS5_2lyTk8LVK6lLM3cG8ueuTQctyCHp-WjJInOGe0X4RZXPqHy-38EYLPH0zQBuuhsMAEFYVZC-HulmA30tt-S9JUV0yoT2EqnNPR06908BMC0VY/s400/J+Magnolia.jpg" border="0" /></a><br clear="left"></p><p>The finishing touches came with the stems. These were executed with mixtures of alizarin crimson and Pouzzouli Red for the darks and touches of the leaf mixtures for highlights and some additional darks.</p><p>Here's the final piece. Hope you like it....hope my friend likes it.</p><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#009900;">"Magnolia Spray", 11" x 14", Oil on Panel<br clear="left"></span></strong><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkZRYKw-I33S_6h3VTpweL6Y2L7_nISeqwdqSgUGJExyjKouo0LVx4AY8H_h73iFejcqPwwzcnp87BdmIhoPT9QO7auroWVpi2d-OJZafH5koIeCMBPLkiP9Y9ll-iolx6J5LWuuIN4Xjy/s1600-h/Magnolia+Spray.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364051581323598034" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 310px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkZRYKw-I33S_6h3VTpweL6Y2L7_nISeqwdqSgUGJExyjKouo0LVx4AY8H_h73iFejcqPwwzcnp87BdmIhoPT9QO7auroWVpi2d-OJZafH5koIeCMBPLkiP9Y9ll-iolx6J5LWuuIN4Xjy/s400/Magnolia+Spray.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></div></span>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-85596991395652668042009-04-17T13:45:00.000-07:002009-04-17T13:50:08.832-07:00FLORAL PAINTING WORKSHOPI'm done! My new studio is finished and ready for visitors. I'll be hosting my first workshop in the new studio and you're invited!<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">OIL PAINTING FLORALS WITH ATMOSPHERE AND LIGHT<br />Ala Prima with Susan Martin Spar</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Tired of struggling to make a rose look like a rose or make a sunflower shine? Do your flowers look stiff or pasted on to the background? Having trouble choosing a background color?<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><em>This workshop is designed to help you<br />paint soft, lilting and believable flowers<br />that breathe. </em></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><em></em></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><em>Learn to paint the “air”<br />around your florals and give them a<br />feeling of atmosphere and light.<br /></em><br />You will learn to:<br /><br />Design a composition that works to bring the<br />viewer’s eye to your focal point.<br /><br />Paint a flower convincingly in just a few brush strokes.Tie your painting together with color harmonyPaint your flowers in reflective and transparent receptacles.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#ff0000;"><em><a href="http://www.susanspar.com/Schedule.htm">TO FIND OUT MORE, CLICK HERE!</a></em></span>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-71030786724408152022009-01-15T09:05:00.000-08:002009-01-15T09:40:09.677-08:00Oil Painting Lesson for Peonies and Asian Vase<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRBZu_82erLFgtYJd_d5WVZIhhQNUjrSsaCzGcnGES06Pe4_tPTbGU7hrns6xqBGiU9hAT3sawHwpRffrz4RCk7I1jU5qgnvNyw1qoIlfi4WjwfyKx_fPQzE16KJkdRjjI5IA0ip-1m_g9/s1600-h/T+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291568204096039570" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 267px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRBZu_82erLFgtYJd_d5WVZIhhQNUjrSsaCzGcnGES06Pe4_tPTbGU7hrns6xqBGiU9hAT3sawHwpRffrz4RCk7I1jU5qgnvNyw1qoIlfi4WjwfyKx_fPQzE16KJkdRjjI5IA0ip-1m_g9/s400/T+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Here's a close up of the leaves and table flowers. It's not that noticeable in the photo but I've been enhancing some of the blooms by deepening color and scumbling lites in a a few places. Tips of the petals have more color in them and I've added this in a few places. Often things that are not at first noticeable to you, become more so as time goes by. These less obvious statements can be brought out in later passes.<br /><br />There's a bit of reflected pink on the side of the vase where the flowers rest against it. I've added that as well. Notice there are no shadows yet on the table top. Generally these are added even before I start a painting, but I opted to use a glazing method to put them in afterwards. I wanted to develop the leaves a bit more before I do that.<br /></span><br /></p><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiabzYHqYZ15BEnkkz58UsuQUw527RUaYOKaLCxQlsQ21CDSwTxz3rgvXBDtYQ6jU7l1EbSlMvgskfNrg-de9GsAzFYRwr3dOkt8n68urYFy_PbwSMIp7zf6yT3br1KAd3ysycxDq3F7UYz/s1600-h/U1+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291569438724281602" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 313px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiabzYHqYZ15BEnkkz58UsuQUw527RUaYOKaLCxQlsQ21CDSwTxz3rgvXBDtYQ6jU7l1EbSlMvgskfNrg-de9GsAzFYRwr3dOkt8n68urYFy_PbwSMIp7zf6yT3br1KAd3ysycxDq3F7UYz/s400/U1+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br clear="left"><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">So here I've started to add some of the stems and more leaves. In order to differentiate the ones in front from the leaves in back, I've lighted some of the edges on the leaves. I'll refine these even further in the last session.<br /><br />Notice the cast shadows from the leaves on the table cloth.<br /></span></p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicelLSaBf924054LWdDHadWJv6Pe6wRd3mNsNo6bb0CMDzvCKeFl7wTHtAigQ4vxbgZ0O1i72QOoJcV4f8LnQ3q41ah2LCv8o4I__WIxjcLiXg79UIUX5R7Ergnga6e-by8quqnXIUha8f/s1600-h/U+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291570459336081154" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 267px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicelLSaBf924054LWdDHadWJv6Pe6wRd3mNsNo6bb0CMDzvCKeFl7wTHtAigQ4vxbgZ0O1i72QOoJcV4f8LnQ3q41ah2LCv8o4I__WIxjcLiXg79UIUX5R7Ergnga6e-by8quqnXIUha8f/s400/U+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I felt that the peony on the left side was a bit too lit up and it was stealing the show from the larger one which is the main focal point of the painting. Even though I loved the way that other peony looked, it's never a good idea to sacrifice an entire painting for the purpose of preserving a single passage. So I mixed a glaze of the Quinacridone Pink with some green and started to knock it down a bit.<br />Now that the pant is dry on the other flowers, I'm free to add some modeling to some of the petals by adding more lights and darks. The lights are added with mixtures of titanium white which has high tinting strength and small amounts of Naples Yellow or the Quinacridone Pink - depending on what I'm after. If I add a white/yellow mixture, the petal will round outward. If I add a the pink, it will tend to retreat a bit. Not as much as if I cooled the mixture with green, but just enough to turn the petal away from me.<br /><br />I've also done some more darkening on the apple on the left. The stems and leaves are easier to view here. </span><br /><br /><br /><p></p><br clear="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /><p>Oops. Camera is a bit tilted here. But I think you can get an idea. I've mixed some Ultramarine Blue with some umber to tone it down. A glaze mixture with the use of Maroger Medium was combined and then using a soft sable, I started to lay in the lines for the blue design on the vase. I'm careful here to maintain the structure of the vase which is not quite round, but slightly squared off. The design helps to describe the form.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNZfIjFGLZLiNGy8lLci5geZNu3ksrDHomRJeLMDChbecUoit8LDsRf5HWCcYW6xtH4Q-ohh8_cGd5FabQj6Ymnt_qtwHIKFiwIWPqIYhe0d6dV798FXfrjyOvDV2sJzaSQUW6QXznoUG1/s1600-h/V+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291571105468900034" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 267px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNZfIjFGLZLiNGy8lLci5geZNu3ksrDHomRJeLMDChbecUoit8LDsRf5HWCcYW6xtH4Q-ohh8_cGd5FabQj6Ymnt_qtwHIKFiwIWPqIYhe0d6dV798FXfrjyOvDV2sJzaSQUW6QXznoUG1/s400/V+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />The paint under the glaze is completely dry so that it's safe to put the glaze on, and if I make a mistake, wipe it out with a brush that has been wet with thinner.<br />I took the time here to work some more on the petals of the flower resting on the table. I've darkened some of the leaves and created stronger cast shadows from them on the table cloth.<br /><br /><p></p><br clear="left"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhKn4xhs17SNep3tVfu4jpOPBQUKEyTM1ZS4qDMr19cG-8Mb-LpqQ0HMGaJVF6Tc658GIn03hukQo-f281klski-wboidyyMKP3z5tQsGT8b1E7KJ6dZQHFKqY0o3hwdHLzZBhu7SxjDZ7/s1600-h/W+Teaching+Blog.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291573075305459618" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 267px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhKn4xhs17SNep3tVfu4jpOPBQUKEyTM1ZS4qDMr19cG-8Mb-LpqQ0HMGaJVF6Tc658GIn03hukQo-f281klski-wboidyyMKP3z5tQsGT8b1E7KJ6dZQHFKqY0o3hwdHLzZBhu7SxjDZ7/s400/W+Teaching+Blog.jpg" border="0" /></a>Here I've added more details. The design the top of the vase is done by making a mixture of shadow white with a touch of ultramarine blue. Remember this part of the design is in the shadow.<br /><br />I've also refined the shape and thickness of the blue lines and darkened the shadow under the vase and some of the other objects on the table.<br clear="left"><br /><p>Viola! Finito la comedia. Or, in other words, done! Much nicer when you get to view the whole piece in one shot.<br /><br />The final design is in. I've heightened the lights on the vase in a couple of places by scumbling in some lighter mixture here and there. The table top is a bit more lit up where the apples are. I'm also finally happy with the peony that is drooping off to the left. It no longer steals the show and tucks back nicely with some atmosphere around it. I've darkened the table cloth toward the bottom of the picture as well.<br /><br />Well, the painting is done, signed and for the most part, both the client and myself are happy with it. Hope you like it too. Thanks for stopping by. Remember, in order to see the whole lesson in one easy read, check out the lesson on my website by <a href="http://www.susanspar.com/Oil%20paint%20lessons.htm#Peony%20Commission">clicking here</a>.</p><p>"Full Bloom"<br />18" x 24", Oil on Canvas<br /><br clear="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPYHj0uWcbknofYEAbDqT0Bw0_qjUH6IYNsQ7W1if-iLkhtKMceEJ1He2msC1J1yTbQN0TQOfdR2cMgEC5XdIAz53rePw0wHcAgIvCbLkubulzT3bFiLADVZ1qvl_05dfgrTle-dW2q7Ub/s1600-h/Full+Bloom+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291574943435282338" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 301px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPYHj0uWcbknofYEAbDqT0Bw0_qjUH6IYNsQ7W1if-iLkhtKMceEJ1He2msC1J1yTbQN0TQOfdR2cMgEC5XdIAz53rePw0wHcAgIvCbLkubulzT3bFiLADVZ1qvl_05dfgrTle-dW2q7Ub/s400/Full+Bloom+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></p></span><br /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPYHj0uWcbknofYEAbDqT0Bw0_qjUH6IYNsQ7W1if-iLkhtKMceEJ1He2msC1J1yTbQN0TQOfdR2cMgEC5XdIAz53rePw0wHcAgIvCbLkubulzT3bFiLADVZ1qvl_05dfgrTle-dW2q7Ub/s1600-h/Full+Bloom+Peonies.jpg"></a>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-57946285584964257622009-01-15T09:02:00.000-08:002009-01-15T09:03:47.099-08:00Darn! Hit that button by accident! We'll pick up where I left off.Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-50019065785515257232009-01-15T08:54:00.000-08:002009-01-15T09:05:04.889-08:00How to Paint Peonies, A Commission, Final Session<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivamJF9wFjz9RhlpIOQa5dk0c5655SdYYQbmXK4y0fVWlzQdJfi5C9tyEtrSWTdThfNg6byGFXM0U1ziubb1qqAZoqsEf3NNHzpoJiRtREGGad_QkcXOPdklrurnqE01Jn7OS6stXqJAwd/s1600-h/S+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291565790563185570" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 301px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivamJF9wFjz9RhlpIOQa5dk0c5655SdYYQbmXK4y0fVWlzQdJfi5C9tyEtrSWTdThfNg6byGFXM0U1ziubb1qqAZoqsEf3NNHzpoJiRtREGGad_QkcXOPdklrurnqE01Jn7OS6stXqJAwd/s400/S+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipdxFLCZW2O5AkC2dz0zURraDpPVLw6Fthgt_Mbn64QdHODPavrHo35lYvtPRizSAmVpTFJSIOxfbIHHVI0FGjfNTzjN2YIpmYJ7VNwdKPrqrDq06PZhW-K9wdDmUkE-vKrCYa1ttJka1_/s1600-h/Vertical+Composition.jpg"></a><br clear="left"><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">It's been a few busy days. My studio is much further along than the last time we spoke. :-) and I've attended my first atelier class with Tenaya Sims. A terrific day! But I'll save that for another time. Let's get started.<br /><br />In the last session I stated that I wanted to revisit the background. I felt it was too busy and so the first thing I did upon opening this session was to oil out with Maroger and then repaint the background. I mixed a new mixture with Raw Umber, Cad Yellow and a touch of Cobalt Blue to cool the mixture. It looks a bit warm here but that's the light. As my windows are now completely blocked off with plywood (they took them out to put them in the new construction), I didn't have any cool natural light to balance the overheads. I think in later photos, it's true tone will become evident. Anyway, it looks better. Don't you think? All those swirls in the background were just too distracting. This is just the right amount of atmosphere and light.<br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTqMYg2-16iDaBqfKtsrdTnEpbadMq-lEgDhy6qsUdMgG7IXvqdHbEYnFUZbSHGRuMOFYAzNZeVo76R9U4CKhziwsEmssPBRsC0HvApalVsuIVtmnIUS5YYr2WmXiWrgzgfdCekAV94IAt/s1600-h/U2+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291566429825109314" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 268px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTqMYg2-16iDaBqfKtsrdTnEpbadMq-lEgDhy6qsUdMgG7IXvqdHbEYnFUZbSHGRuMOFYAzNZeVo76R9U4CKhziwsEmssPBRsC0HvApalVsuIVtmnIUS5YYr2WmXiWrgzgfdCekAV94IAt/s400/U2+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a></span></p></div><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">I've added some twigs here for interest. Remember that straight lines are much more attractive than lines that are curvy. In this case, the straight lines form a nice contrast to the curves of the petals and help to create directional lines for the composition. These were done with a palette knife. A little trick I learned at the David Leffel workshop. Slide the edge of your palette knife through the pant and then carefully set the edge against the canvas and pull the knife outward in the desired direction. It does take a bit of practice, but it's well worth the time investment.<br /></span></p>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-20520515113774655132009-01-09T18:20:00.000-08:002009-01-09T18:22:06.554-08:00<span style="font-family:arial;">Just a note to let you all know that I'll be holding off on publishing the last couple of lessons on this commission piece until after it's finished. I feel it's only fair that the customer be the first to see the finished piece. There have been lots of changes since this morning and I'm quite happy with the way things are turning out. Stay tuned. I'll publish again in a few day or quite possibly by Sunday evening.</span>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-30577471918459987992009-01-09T09:12:00.001-08:002009-01-09T09:25:23.859-08:00How to Paint Peonies, Day Four<div><div><div><div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJAHFgNEZQEHqNZUrwhH5o7u9E4StiXIDul81H9mC-GglRTDED4s4u3Ve8EYQqgvX5-hw3L-mZ5_v04kxFRAFUOXe3V9WuQ6bDpAXC1UWoEy1hly-fOFjhPVA5lfekiMXw1RwaZ1Nec52A/s1600-h/M+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289343212094959250" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 297px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJAHFgNEZQEHqNZUrwhH5o7u9E4StiXIDul81H9mC-GglRTDED4s4u3Ve8EYQqgvX5-hw3L-mZ5_v04kxFRAFUOXe3V9WuQ6bDpAXC1UWoEy1hly-fOFjhPVA5lfekiMXw1RwaZ1Nec52A/s400/M+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><br clear="left"><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Today proved to be a trying one. I had contractors, engineers and inspectors banging all over the house and the constant interruptions had me banging my head against the wall and sniffing paint fumes in a vain attempt to escape it all.<br /><br />But in spite of all the craziness, I did manage to get a few things accomplished. I had the curtain on the French door behind me open and so had a bit of cool light to paint by. Hence the bluish tint on the left side o the canvas. That shouldn't prove to be too much of a difficulty here as I'm illustrating the last of the flowers in this picture.<br /><br />I re-entered the painting by first giving a slight blue glaze to the background to cool down some of the yellow tint in the umber background. I'm still not sure of the tapestry look and may decide before painting in the leaves to just make the background solid. It feels a bit distracting to me.<br />After glazing the background, I finished off the last three flowers. These are still not quite done at this point and I'll get back to them before the close of the session. It's difficult to work out all the values on the flowers until their surroundings are painted in.<br /></span></p><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1xGqyC0r6LtzxOKGf-3ar52AFUePlUnUy_XtonMQD1eP_GF9Nyn_HnBThNBNied6aAXGKjQbhthv-7VdLIa0l54ZcM0IqJOfNN_MZm8Qh2kLsiU1RllJugg4TcBWKFTYLHeIA8qBSBeWt/s1600-h/N+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289343592441426882" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 267px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1xGqyC0r6LtzxOKGf-3ar52AFUePlUnUy_XtonMQD1eP_GF9Nyn_HnBThNBNied6aAXGKjQbhthv-7VdLIa0l54ZcM0IqJOfNN_MZm8Qh2kLsiU1RllJugg4TcBWKFTYLHeIA8qBSBeWt/s400/N+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">Time for the apples. I started with their shadows by mixing in a bit of burnt umber and a touch of yellow ochre for reflected light. Then I was on to the shadows of the apples. I started with raw umber and some Cadmium Yellow Light mixed in. This was further toned with a little Cad Red Light. I mixed this lightly with some toned down Thalo Green for the more colorful spots on the apples. A touch of Yellow Ochre and white for the reflected light becomes evident in the next photo. </span></p></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /><div><br />Note that an object's truest color will be on the turning edge just as the light on the object turns to shadow. The core shadow follows this. It's easiest to remember this by just noting that light washes out color and shadow obscures it.<br /><br /></div><br /><br /><p></p><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglrnwv5H5ukyuUHykpMBKwhml1qDQYcL6kNpJee5znMQMA2TrnD9NKNUsxAcTRTyvH4Xvjhty2jO03Oo7J44jY7zHH6THvRyEoLPQ-d3fpOjnytuO_xlC-n9u0ovsDKHs5YrW8LuiaTK6W/s1600-h/O+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289344035942628210" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 267px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglrnwv5H5ukyuUHykpMBKwhml1qDQYcL6kNpJee5znMQMA2TrnD9NKNUsxAcTRTyvH4Xvjhty2jO03Oo7J44jY7zHH6THvRyEoLPQ-d3fpOjnytuO_xlC-n9u0ovsDKHs5YrW8LuiaTK6W/s400/O+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a>The lights are added in here with some Cad Yellow Light, white and a touch of umber to tone the brightness (although that's hard to tell from my camera). The reflected lights are more evident here.<br />I've also painted in the table top, although this too will be brightened eventually. A bit of Yellow Ochre and Burnt Umber with some Naples Yellow lights up the table.<br /><br clear="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGO5KkGTK93daXq17kVELtMcb8Od-mrg5J6qE7JpTpCo1H2PKvX0DAXUkJgNrPGJWi5bYloNoM9uYv-R3Gn8NPa3_x8lCC6EDqNPXLhXaMDXKTwCi-bRd3S-qRO8upftPgD_FjRDfE16YH/s1600-h/P+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289344416794185394" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 294px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGO5KkGTK93daXq17kVELtMcb8Od-mrg5J6qE7JpTpCo1H2PKvX0DAXUkJgNrPGJWi5bYloNoM9uYv-R3Gn8NPa3_x8lCC6EDqNPXLhXaMDXKTwCi-bRd3S-qRO8upftPgD_FjRDfE16YH/s400/P+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a>The top right hand corner of the background looks a bit warm here. Some of that may be due to the fact that the cool light from the door behind me is not falling on that portion of the canvas.</div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div>In either case, I'll need to reassess in the morning with natural light coming in evenly. I have a skylight just outside the old studio that can be used for this purpose. I use two color corrected Ott Lights additionally, but find that the skylight is best for this. I will be such a boon when the new studio is finished. I have a seven by five foot arched north light window in it. Perfect for this sort of thing.</div><br /><br /><div><br />I've started to put in the shadows for the table cloth. Notice that I've painted out the leaves here. I know where they're going and have decided that it would be best to paint them in over the table cloth. This is always a last minute judgment call for me as I often paint them together with the cloth and background. I've been taking my time here so things are developing a bit differently. Shadow color is a bit of black, Cad Yellow Light and white. I've warmed it a bit with Burnt Umber. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDMnvKR7z9FC_QwxTj2facfyTyXgZzhreo5Z3L8LHvEqOIkk6buM3DX1p3Xqw47sagpY9mZvzWW27SzSJSGllldFQujxPnfNCAvWJso-LW7NUcc9hLFZ8rs8PeTRlBzzUE1TCSIbIEc6Qu/s1600-h/Q+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289345230905328514" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 317px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDMnvKR7z9FC_QwxTj2facfyTyXgZzhreo5Z3L8LHvEqOIkk6buM3DX1p3Xqw47sagpY9mZvzWW27SzSJSGllldFQujxPnfNCAvWJso-LW7NUcc9hLFZ8rs8PeTRlBzzUE1TCSIbIEc6Qu/s400/Q+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div>I simplified the table cloth and reworked it several times before I felt I could leave it for a bit and move on to the cut apples. Like everything else, I'll revisit it several times during the next painting session. The cut apples were done much the same as the larger ones. Note that I've gone back and darkened the interior of the other apples. </div><br /><div><br />The lighted table cloth is done with Naples Yellow and White. This is just a slightly warmed mixture of white, not a cooled mixture of yellow. But the temperature difference is enough to make the table top pop. Additionally, I took small amounts and used it on the flowers in a few places where I wanted the light to sparkle on the flowers. That warm light really works against the cooler pink . I know it sounds strange - but remember temperature is relative. My pinks are cool pinks and the white is a warm white.<br clear="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw-q6IZl9pa6DltutbTBZRrPADkxn6FC3RPmfymznS1JY7zfuW5lGWsellswvv2FQ0yDSJZT8VwC7_Chko64FqjJmqN1EAUekcHxaZZxbGsB1xXlFGtwZEX8Us4Upm6hBukb89FOIF6aeM/s1600-h/R+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289345657410054786" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 303px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw-q6IZl9pa6DltutbTBZRrPADkxn6FC3RPmfymznS1JY7zfuW5lGWsellswvv2FQ0yDSJZT8VwC7_Chko64FqjJmqN1EAUekcHxaZZxbGsB1xXlFGtwZEX8Us4Upm6hBukb89FOIF6aeM/s400/R+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a>This is perhaps the best representation of what is happening in the painting thus far. The color is a bit softer in this photo and the contrast not as sharp as in the others. </div><div><br />I deepened the shadows around the flower at the bottom that is drooping off the table edge and heightened the edges so that it stands away from the table cloth. The table cloth and the back of the table itself are softly inferred in the background. A little light peeks in behind the cut apples. I've also taken some Quinacridone Pink glaze and brushing it into the tips of the petals.</div><div><br />There's much I need to do here and I have only three days before they tear into my studio rendering it unusable for a few days. So tomorrow is another day. It's midnight and I've posted this first to my website so I'll copy it over to the blog in the morning. Nighty night.</div></span></div></div></div></div>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-34786388267575294452009-01-07T19:58:00.000-08:002009-01-07T20:24:09.898-08:00How to Paint Peonies, Day Two<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNBHCJ-Z3B8XNNaD08776mJlMbAHT15QoImGDD5AuXpByc3mr99Q9YEMDNgcSiF4oh4RsdRDYjQr_UaAFqgwC0V_Nquzud1d1HqD9V42TdMj-7csK4ef50TEcyo1_yquXcOeCqKe7TWaUT/s1600-h/G+Peones.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288770965721128258" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 305px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNBHCJ-Z3B8XNNaD08776mJlMbAHT15QoImGDD5AuXpByc3mr99Q9YEMDNgcSiF4oh4RsdRDYjQr_UaAFqgwC0V_Nquzud1d1HqD9V42TdMj-7csK4ef50TEcyo1_yquXcOeCqKe7TWaUT/s400/G+Peones.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">Well thanks for checking back in today. I actually painted this lesson over two days starting with the background yesterday and continuing with the flowers today. Here we go. If you'd like to read this lesson in a more consistent manner that flows from top to bottom without having to skip around blog style, <a href="http://www.susanspar.com/Oil%20paint%20lessons.htm#Peony%20Commission">click here.</a></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></div><span style="font-family:arial;">The background was the first thing I started on with color. I generally choose an umber background for pink because the slight green tint sets off the pinks in the blossoms nicely. This mix was done with a combination of Burnt Umber and Raw Umber plus a bit of Cad Yellow Light and Naples Yellow. The lighter tones were done with a bit more Naples yellow. I was looking for a light feeling of tapestry here. As the painting develops I continue to work the background. I like to have it slightly wet as I work because that allows me to fade flowers into the background. Again - I apologize for the glare. Not much I can do about it under the circumstances. Each time I pause to take a picture, I have to turn lights on and turn others off. It's a bit tricky and breaks my concentration so I try not to have to do too much in that arena. Also, what looks fine in the camera, often looks quite different once I download the picture.<br /><br />I worked some darker umber and Ultramarine Blue into the background on the lower left hand side and into the shadows on the tapestry.<br /><br />For the vase, I used my usual mix of black, Cadmium Yellow Light and white along with a touch of the background color. For the light struck area, I used Cremintz White with a touch of Ultramarine Blue. Some of the shadow color was added as well. This is only a preliminary under painting for the vase.<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlGi2wGq8etYofUOBvHrIVpIp7zOTSv9vtAkuHO4mx9K3LybZYLzZTB8y9-0EFeX8yZ9U6OJDzV9l7HbgmBTI7mHQ_13-DgIFC-2sL18VENZ7MHJ-85W9kbEq8QTy9c-hin6fYt21xYq7y/s1600-h/H+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288771191160465538" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 297px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlGi2wGq8etYofUOBvHrIVpIp7zOTSv9vtAkuHO4mx9K3LybZYLzZTB8y9-0EFeX8yZ9U6OJDzV9l7HbgmBTI7mHQ_13-DgIFC-2sL18VENZ7MHJ-85W9kbEq8QTy9c-hin6fYt21xYq7y/s400/H+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:Arial;">I vowed this time around that I would try to give more step-by-step on the flowers - so here goes. I used a shadow color which was mixed by combining Quinacridone Red and Cadmium Red Light plus a bit of Cremintz White. The Cremintz White is a very thick impasto white with low tinting strength. Good for low tints and where you don't want to wash out the color. It's also lovely for building impastos.<br />I brushed this color combo into the areas where the darker richer interiors of the Peony face away from the light. I used a bit of Cadmium Orange to place warmth into those shadows.<br /><br />When I mix these colors, I try not to over mix them with a palette knife, but instead use my brush and whip them up a bit to where they are delicately blended - like making muffin batter. Too much mixing and the muffins go flat.<br /><br />For the reflected lights - always a tough call - I used a bit of Quinacridone Pink which has more blue in it. This was mixed with a bit of background color that had been lightened with touches of white to gray it a bit. Shadows are always deeper near to the object which casts them. So I brushed a bit of Raw Umber mixed with Ultramarine Blue into the shadows closest to the Peonies. The vase is still very simple at this point. I'm only suggesting the shape at the bottom where the shadow curves a bit. Later, I'll place some background color to deepen shadows and bring atmosphere forward into the painting. I've also deepened the shadows on the tapestry in the background.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_plmAYKMqrRLM95lR7CDMUFAtXtju1kWQ_NTdqOsNn0xxSpd_yYV5MOsxqZWLrqTW_pKxUIXY4M5s-2h5VchwFbrzwXp3zTnya_uGoSkQGeYIS5kbyMpWouNjyndJyieTt6mkFkDT7jMS/s1600-h/I+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288771490071164466" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 267px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_plmAYKMqrRLM95lR7CDMUFAtXtju1kWQ_NTdqOsNn0xxSpd_yYV5MOsxqZWLrqTW_pKxUIXY4M5s-2h5VchwFbrzwXp3zTnya_uGoSkQGeYIS5kbyMpWouNjyndJyieTt6mkFkDT7jMS/s400/I+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a>Here's the close up. You can see the brush work is kept light. When painting the inside of a flower, you have to figure that that part of the bloom is receding from you and paint it thinly - just as you would shadows.<br clear="left"><br /><br /><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYfjKndxbcgQux0KT3iCdilmb0QfG1XxkVWIXmt-Q2kOhyphenhyphenkcf018D7FOWqANZuSWYUVk2ZHi10PLxVr4_9muGj4JDA9RLsZEl1RvKqamn6h8YPAVGhqXNVuKQz4aKTafJNVRX4gKAmFqk7/s1600-h/J+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288771821029947890" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 267px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYfjKndxbcgQux0KT3iCdilmb0QfG1XxkVWIXmt-Q2kOhyphenhyphenkcf018D7FOWqANZuSWYUVk2ZHi10PLxVr4_9muGj4JDA9RLsZEl1RvKqamn6h8YPAVGhqXNVuKQz4aKTafJNVRX4gKAmFqk7/s400/J+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a> Here I've started to put in the highlights on the lit side of the flower. The paint is quite thick. I'm using the same color that I used in the interior passages but lightened with Cremintz White. I'm using a 1/2" DaVinci Filbert Bristle brush. Bristles are best for impasto work because they are just stiff enough to hold the paint.<br /><br />For the initial strokes I used a 1/4 inch brush but decided that it looked too picky so I changed to a larger one and went to a technique that I'm comfortable with.<br /><br />I didn't have anyone to take a picture of me laying in the petals so I'll have to describe the technique. After I've loaded the brush, I lay the bristle's at a 30 degree angle to the canvas and starting at the center of the bloom I make the petal using one stroke by pulling the brush outward to circumference of the flower. I apply more pressure at the start of the stroke and lift off the brush at the back end of the stroke. This is a little tricky and takes some practice.<br />This stroke is more evident in the last two pictures.<br /><br />Notice that the lights are bright, but there's not enough punch or contrast between them and the shadows. This is because Cremintz is a low tint white. I'll fix that in the end by using a bit of the same color mix but with Titanium White and some Maroger Medium.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTWo5yAI2yTWjkm__c3xVdvYdLOfZEqVxZnGdKi6RzNUn4CjWGhKMAFeF5wfqtS7tJ4gYN8MSl7y8xywyH6Ztj06freb7wg7BnpcqDtBP_Ay_vN1FQ1QAIPIeoKoTOtPkG61lYiKckiGds/s1600-h/K+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288772425440170290" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 310px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTWo5yAI2yTWjkm__c3xVdvYdLOfZEqVxZnGdKi6RzNUn4CjWGhKMAFeF5wfqtS7tJ4gYN8MSl7y8xywyH6Ztj06freb7wg7BnpcqDtBP_Ay_vN1FQ1QAIPIeoKoTOtPkG61lYiKckiGds/s400/K+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />I next moved on to the back ground flowers. These were mixed with a bit of Quinacridone Rose which has a bit of blue in it. You can see that color in the flowers facing away from you. Because they are in the background and less distinct, I softened the edges by brushing some of the background into them.<br /><br />Notice the large bloom in the front and the smaller bloom just behind it. There's not a huge difference in value here so I used a bit of edge control to push the one on the right back by making the edge of the flower in front a bit crisper. I also used little or no detail in the inside of the flower on the right. Less detail, less reason to spend time looking at it. Control your viewer's eyes by the use of edges as well as values.<br /><br />Notice that I've painted out the leaves. I decided I would rather design them as I go in the last sitting. Those are details that will be a bit demanding and may take more than one sitting to get right so I'd rather not have to paint background around them when I'm done. Instead I'll use some Maroger to oil out the canvas and paint into it with the leaf colors when I'm ready. The background is an easy mix and can also be added if needed at a later point without having matching problems.</p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOCwY0_eVMMmSOnFi9N4uMCHqgxtUfSbAFb7yFkahLXhrEbI7_JLq91zBA0B03fgtBZQOOq9Btpm2thJr_PN76gkm8k-5bQ2psPu6xUKR_lcpqmTGCLNbtVSe4-bnPDbQjUqjOWo8CqL35/s1600-h/L+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288772728004607282" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 310px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOCwY0_eVMMmSOnFi9N4uMCHqgxtUfSbAFb7yFkahLXhrEbI7_JLq91zBA0B03fgtBZQOOq9Btpm2thJr_PN76gkm8k-5bQ2psPu6xUKR_lcpqmTGCLNbtVSe4-bnPDbQjUqjOWo8CqL35/s400/L+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a>OK. I took another shot here to better evaluate the light. For this stage of the painting, I'm satisfied. I can see where I will want to darken some of the flowers on the left. This, however, is best left until they are dry and then I can just glaze into them. I rearranged the shapes of the larger flower and used the larger brush to do the petals. I have two more flowers to paint in the next session and then I want to re-evaluate the background and the overall shape of some of the blooms. Once I've tweaked those, I'll start into the objects on the table.<br /><br />For the background, I'm considering a glaze with a very thin coat of blue to cool it a bit. I can better evaluate it in the light of day however, and I'll rethink it all in the morning. Good night and I'll continue with you tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by.<br /></div></span>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-1166867974375339562009-01-05T18:02:00.000-08:002009-01-05T18:15:37.298-08:00How to Paint Peonies<span style="font-family:arial;color:#009900;"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">"The Peony Commission"<br /></span>Working Title<br /></strong></span><br /><div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKrflLMVEG-rh8lI_7jjDNm8fQfx44VOsGJKzmyMnJUXMLJNkSha_R1AKezk4cKLl5iTOCfF_8clzUPherBeSCp9cukXEXNumCvq8cog1UUm9huqDEfynO5oQJfiYysXIftyNpoRfuhvNn/s1600-h/A+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287995579869617954" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 269px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 360px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKrflLMVEG-rh8lI_7jjDNm8fQfx44VOsGJKzmyMnJUXMLJNkSha_R1AKezk4cKLl5iTOCfF_8clzUPherBeSCp9cukXEXNumCvq8cog1UUm9huqDEfynO5oQJfiYysXIftyNpoRfuhvNn/s400/A+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><br clear="left"><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Peonies are such beautiful, lush flowers that it's no mystery that they are loved by nearly all flower aficionados. I received this commission a couple of days ago and thought it might be fun to share the painting process with you.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The size of the painting is 18" x 24" at the request of the client. I sent her three compositional images and she decided on this vertical format. I'm glad because I'm a bit partial to this composition. Mainly this is because I love drama. Even in something as quiet as a still life, there can be great drama.<br /><br />Notice how the composition is at eye level. You can basically divide the canvas into three areas. Below the table, the top of the table to the Golden Mein (about one third of the way down from the top, and the top one third where most of the flowers reside.<br />I chose an "S" composition for this floral as I often do in vertical compositions. Notice how the flowers form a backwards question mark or take an actual "S" direction. I chose green apples to offset the prinks in the flowers. I actually added some cut apples to the right after this picture was taken. They become apparent in the painting.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMrYvp1E67QJ0jLVnlLYWQ1s8ZzHXUYUoi1K62GY8JNs35prX45RD3COolK1LxEFDnsWFos-dzbJTk-bHfi7jO2gOi7DupGidaeEpCKadfkl_rZYLk9UPYblTR_j7fB8aJ-WsxmC6MBq3y/s1600-h/B+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287996162975511474" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 267px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMrYvp1E67QJ0jLVnlLYWQ1s8ZzHXUYUoi1K62GY8JNs35prX45RD3COolK1LxEFDnsWFos-dzbJTk-bHfi7jO2gOi7DupGidaeEpCKadfkl_rZYLk9UPYblTR_j7fB8aJ-WsxmC6MBq3y/s400/B+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a></span></p></div><br /><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">I first prepared the canvas a couple of days in advance by coating it with a thin layer of under painting white mixed with Liquin to help it's drying time. I did this for two reasons: first, I prefer a smooth surface to one with texture and I like the way paint moves on a surface that has been primed with paint. The white under painting will cause the flowers to glow with an appearance of light emanating from within as the painting ages.<br /><br />When the canvas was dry, I drew with charcoal the actual placement of the major elements and then sprayed the whole thing with a touch of hairspray. Nice to know that stuff is still useful for something.<br />Next I wiped on a thin layer of Burnt Umber mixed with Quinacridone Orange and then started to lift out the lights. I like this process of under painting because it allows me to make decisions as I go. If something doesn't look right where I've placed it, I can easily move it by painting back into the toned canvas and wiping out the lights elsewhere. But my drawing was good here and I was pretty happy with the way the flowers were placed. I had made some changes to the flowers you see in the photograph until I was happy. Often, I won't see things that need fixing until I start to get things on canvas. That's why I can't work from photos. Things looked flat in the photo I sent to the client but really started to fill out nicely when I started actually lifting out the lights on the canvas.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmtvmlu9Ea5HHmM7JZi_rA4K2QYHwWpR7qxJhbVaxdQaEp3hePPDUaiwAi8AwfYpGDbK3jfQ-C6Jn6xpndFvZxlqxA3GZr732VO5iQ9IZbMI56MtwOhUNptjy0cAkReuD6V9d5x2rog64f/s1600-h/D+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287996577834367458" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 288px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmtvmlu9Ea5HHmM7JZi_rA4K2QYHwWpR7qxJhbVaxdQaEp3hePPDUaiwAi8AwfYpGDbK3jfQ-C6Jn6xpndFvZxlqxA3GZr732VO5iQ9IZbMI56MtwOhUNptjy0cAkReuD6V9d5x2rog64f/s400/D+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></span></p><br /><div></div><br /><p></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Here you can see the under painting developed further. I added a bloom or two to the left and filled out some other areas. I moved the flower on the table further to the right and the small one further to the left to bring out more of the "S" shape I was referring to. The large Peony in the top left of center is right about on the intersection of the Golden Mein, the sweet spot of the painting and where I want the viewer's eyes to go. While it takes precedence now, it will be a challenge to keep it's importance once color is added.<br /><br />I pulled out lights where the light spills from the left across the vase. You might notice now that there is no design on the vase. That's the last thing that gets added to the painting.<br />I've filled in some leaves and you can see now also where the apples and cut apples fall. I've brushed in some shadows as well to unify the piece.<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbZ1ehIgH0yI02P3fW0kB5IKLCDRZZqVZujvxaRLGnhwfMdEYW0Zi_NR3WcVM8FbyWuVOCTgP4HOSv1KVMVp6AoS7G1g2zTLQOnQAJcU05TGpr1FVsJ1yVs38CLNMgEiIbzqW6ILt08p87/s1600-h/E+Peonies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287997063801963266" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 310px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbZ1ehIgH0yI02P3fW0kB5IKLCDRZZqVZujvxaRLGnhwfMdEYW0Zi_NR3WcVM8FbyWuVOCTgP4HOSv1KVMVp6AoS7G1g2zTLQOnQAJcU05TGpr1FVsJ1yVs38CLNMgEiIbzqW6ILt08p87/s400/E+Peonies.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">OK. I'm about done here. The cloth is not quite finished and I'm thinking I'll change quite a bit on there as the painting proceeds. I often move the light source to provide a few shadows and lit parts on the cloth in the front. I don't want to do that until the majority of the painting is done as once the light moves, it's difficult to get things back where they were. While a purist might say that the shadows will not be true to life, an "artist" knows that what works in a painting is not generally true to life in all cases.<br /><br />I've lightened the background on the right. This will add more depth to the painting later. It won't be bright, per se, but will be a softly shadowed mid tone to allow the flowers to fade into it. The left side will be darker.<br /><br />All this, mind you, is subject to change. But for the most part, I'm happy with this first stage. Check back tomorrow or the next day to see the next step. Thanks for tuning in. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">If the lesson is difficult to follow on the blog, I suggest you <a href="http://www.susanspar.com/Oil%20paint%20lessons.htm">click here </a>to follow it on my website where the type flows smoother. Just click on "Peony Commission" when you get there.<br /><br /></p></span>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-21988220720426867832008-12-29T17:58:00.000-08:002008-12-29T19:20:42.423-08:00How to Paint Orchids<strong><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:180%;"><span style="color:#009900;">"Arc of Orchids"</span><br /></span></strong><span style="font-family:arial;">8" x 10" Oil on Panel<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhC5KKZ2lkxzK_PJvG9-iMTRysfBc1WKeP2dPqIP7-O3PJzuzqU5GCL9CIhhk_WRf1shsFLgn-VRXnKJGRE1IsH-v2pltboeX-L1SSAZwwtcis_3Ut4VGVFMBZFFV38ooLY7cVMgcDNoPq/s1600-h/Arc+of+Orchids.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285396875726357922" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 319px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhC5KKZ2lkxzK_PJvG9-iMTRysfBc1WKeP2dPqIP7-O3PJzuzqU5GCL9CIhhk_WRf1shsFLgn-VRXnKJGRE1IsH-v2pltboeX-L1SSAZwwtcis_3Ut4VGVFMBZFFV38ooLY7cVMgcDNoPq/s400/Arc+of+Orchids.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzxf0ZnhWB7Us2ogZEkNkQ74WHXggj7GC6nY1FTFcFxSY-adkCcmxW7raaRzGUHKDelsCY17NkdYRv84-fZA8rCmF4w5OVOqOf-ujr43HmrVEj516Q0_rSNCpNFLrapqQk70ebgHNT5czj/s1600-h/IMG_6125.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285399468424092226" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 314px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzxf0ZnhWB7Us2ogZEkNkQ74WHXggj7GC6nY1FTFcFxSY-adkCcmxW7raaRzGUHKDelsCY17NkdYRv84-fZA8rCmF4w5OVOqOf-ujr43HmrVEj516Q0_rSNCpNFLrapqQk70ebgHNT5czj/s400/IMG_6125.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">I've been wanting to do Orchids for some time and so I got busy early today and set these up in my shadow box. So here's the set-up.<br />I used to paint very hard edged reflections when I first started painting still life and have since gone to a softer more romantic look. We'll talk more about that as the lesson progresses.<br /><br />I'm currently unable to paint by natural light due to the fact that my windows are no longer looking out on the world but on the inside of my new, presently unfinished studio. While there's a beautiful seven foot arched window that faces north in there, none of the light reaches my old studio. When they punch through to the old studio, that room will become my new office and I can set up my still life's under the beautiful soft north light that comes in from the arched window. In the meantime, I'm using a plant light that sort of replicates natural light, but still tends to the warm side. Hence, the rather gold looking tones in the silver bowl.<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVte-CCKCiJbEdCSK8n5yMqjWnh-0Nmy9gkFNYFS-PD-cb65tvZKJDfP3c9VVh3TiQhtkuZS0vNqhJD-VtUETEeMdfqOXd4BhddNPDEacoiOIgjB5b2MdMWkDmWxKSo9qfpDjrG8rZ1e_E/s1600-h/A+Arc.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285397829569491554" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 311px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVte-CCKCiJbEdCSK8n5yMqjWnh-0Nmy9gkFNYFS-PD-cb65tvZKJDfP3c9VVh3TiQhtkuZS0vNqhJD-VtUETEeMdfqOXd4BhddNPDEacoiOIgjB5b2MdMWkDmWxKSo9qfpDjrG8rZ1e_E/s400/A+Arc.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></p><br /><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">I started by laying in a basic sketch of the still life with some raw umber and mineral spirits. The yellow ochre background you see is the color of the gesso I used to tone the board. Daniel Smith makes it and I like it because it saves me the trouble of toning a board a few days before I start to work. I don't always know in advance what I'm going to want and also don't have enough spare boards on hand a lot of the time to create diversity.<br />Working on a toned surface is important because it allows you to better judge values (lights and darks). There I go again talking about values. But they're soooo important.<br /><br />I did the background first and reserved the shapes of the flowers. Note that in ala prima painting, you try as much as possible to reserve the areas where you are going to place flowers because it's too easy to muddy the colors otherwise.<br /><br />I used Viridian Green, Raw Umber, and touches of Ultramarine Blue in making the background. I chose the Viridian because it's bluish tint would set off the reds in the flowers without making them too vibrant. The lighter areas were lightened with a touch of Naples Yellow because it's less cool than white. I wanted it a bit lighter where the second bunch of blooms fall because that's where the lightest petals will be and I wanted to lighten the "air" around the flower.<br /><br />The color of the flowers is mixed with Daniel Smith's Quinacridone Pink. His Quinacridone colors are very intense and don't lose their intensity when you mix them with white. I used a bit of Alazarin Crimson and Ultramarine Blue for the shadow parts and Cadmium Red Light for the center petals.<br /><br />Note that I use the largest brush that can get the job done. I start with a single stroke - beginning and ending the stroke. I don't go back in and belabor it. That's not to say that I don't use smaller brushes for the detail and places where the petals have highlights on them, but I try to use a loaded brush and get the stroke right on the first try. I'm not always successful. But I'd rather wipe it off and try again, than have an overworked flower.<br /><br />The pot here is started with Burnt Umber and also some of the background color mixed in. This is important to do in order to give the pot the appearance of being part of its environment. Air, so to speak.<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7rMIRmHkOdY78LbWxho8tGIB4MtWJnfnWBlicMNruPT-Y_FTRc4j7y09WI8piDkSG3kCmP3pRLGVnI5w7yNop7dBEADxFck9WtjvqX3NlcDVFMrXHEzTTr1b3X2EvrW8w04lep0MC6zn3/s1600-h/B+Arc.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285398349850538850" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 311px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7rMIRmHkOdY78LbWxho8tGIB4MtWJnfnWBlicMNruPT-Y_FTRc4j7y09WI8piDkSG3kCmP3pRLGVnI5w7yNop7dBEADxFck9WtjvqX3NlcDVFMrXHEzTTr1b3X2EvrW8w04lep0MC6zn3/s400/B+Arc.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></p><br /><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Here I've started to put in some of the background flowers. I'm not working too hard to bring detail into these. You can't see detail from the distance I'm sitting at so why should the viewer have to see it. It's important to keep that in mind. I hear from my students a lot that they "can't see" well enough to get these vague areas. Precisely. That is the point. They are vague.<br /><br />I'm using Naples Yellow on the pot to bring out the patina. I don't want a hard highlight even though that's what appears before me because of the artificial light. So I lay in the paint and then soften the edges moving out from the center with my brush. You can see a bit of Burnt Umber on the pot here where I've warmed it up to bring it forward in the bulge. I've started the reflection of the cloth, making sure to keep my edges very soft. Inside the pot there's some lovely reflections of the petals but they look a bit orangey to me, so I've tentatively started them that way. They'll likely change as the painting progresses because my eyes will adjust further and color relationships will become clearer to me.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhysAhSF9SyIijV1xhM3mBglD-UvcTi7gNKjrVBaIQ1f6K4O3wXa033TuoeD-SZCUZC_Ttxu4FC6XmLbke3aI1Xng5oJkMbwDlDn5pGjOr72RlTtoLeZ9C2QD6_15vNPMy7RwXcI8rSHeyo/s1600-h/D+Arc.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285398743866287778" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 315px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhysAhSF9SyIijV1xhM3mBglD-UvcTi7gNKjrVBaIQ1f6K4O3wXa033TuoeD-SZCUZC_Ttxu4FC6XmLbke3aI1Xng5oJkMbwDlDn5pGjOr72RlTtoLeZ9C2QD6_15vNPMy7RwXcI8rSHeyo/s400/D+Arc.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></span></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Here the second flower is in and you can see how the bloom is a lot brighter. The picture is a bit on the light side here because I have an Ott Light above it. I've made better adjustments for this in the final picture.<br /><br />I've put some color into the inside of the pot. A bit of Burnt Sienna and Naples Yellow with Burnt Umber for the darker areas. I've still reserved that orangey spot.</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguADPXvkt-j9JX7wX_zaVcxaF9k5a3PWwtJJJlPt-AuUhaxs9_1TzqhT04c_l1dlz0z3Yz6VARlnJI_zsWyRPu0LVHDaGmxQmG4RozTqafv7mdtta0q-4SEb012SsLUnq962ufPbpyF3Wv/s1600-h/E+Arc.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285399278118043330" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 305px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguADPXvkt-j9JX7wX_zaVcxaF9k5a3PWwtJJJlPt-AuUhaxs9_1TzqhT04c_l1dlz0z3Yz6VARlnJI_zsWyRPu0LVHDaGmxQmG4RozTqafv7mdtta0q-4SEb012SsLUnq962ufPbpyF3Wv/s400/E+Arc.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">The last of the blooms are in here except for two. Nothing much has changed in the pot at this point except I've darkened a band around the rim.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgQgOZrzY8c7Wlb20pmwLA2nlsRHPiObzCQJimt6Z100rEvHbM7X-F9wMlMYjwvbq7iPONBYExYrxumIQfMD67gvdHErxLjGgqQbvCbdyyGM48154R60YbAFL-nAZ1ymYvNF6LGmF9_u38/s1600-h/F+ARc.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285399954866299026" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 303px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgQgOZrzY8c7Wlb20pmwLA2nlsRHPiObzCQJimt6Z100rEvHbM7X-F9wMlMYjwvbq7iPONBYExYrxumIQfMD67gvdHErxLjGgqQbvCbdyyGM48154R60YbAFL-nAZ1ymYvNF6LGmF9_u38/s400/F+ARc.jpg" border="0" /></a></span></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Sorry for the glare here. It's very hard to see on the camera when I'm taking the shots. The light in the studio is so carefully set with overheads off and separate lights dimmed and directed away from the still life, that it's too dark to just snap a shot. I need to use a longer exposure that tends to pick up more light from other sources than I can see on the lCD display.<br /><br />I've added the reflections from the blooms on the pot and also brightened the rim of the pot. Nothing much done on the inside yet.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc_R7nljY8ZrXg9MHiTJ2_aNhmU1Yb8uWke4TpmHHfx8fHgy79xDpkQ4hk6QiXKOsMQ3J6rRvMW6Shrhd2Fvj7zQGFIdyhoCuHlGQB1O8SbZbKeT8nCectf1qEco7r38dNgrgb4BJPHIOW/s1600-h/G+Arc.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285400466220493554" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 319px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc_R7nljY8ZrXg9MHiTJ2_aNhmU1Yb8uWke4TpmHHfx8fHgy79xDpkQ4hk6QiXKOsMQ3J6rRvMW6Shrhd2Fvj7zQGFIdyhoCuHlGQB1O8SbZbKeT8nCectf1qEco7r38dNgrgb4BJPHIOW/s400/G+Arc.jpg" border="0" /></a></span></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">My timer didn't go off so almost 20 minutes elapsed here. The last two flower have been added and I also put in the stems of the flowers. The stems are made up of some of the Viridian Green and a bit of Cadmium Yellow Light.<br /><br />On the fruit, I started by laying in the core shadow shapes with a darker (OK, I know it doesn't look light) mixture of Viridian and Burnt Umber. You can see this on the apple to the left. The cast shadows were laid in with Burnt Umber on the table portion and a shadow mix of Ivory Black, Cad Yellow Light and White on the table cloth. I brushed in a bit of Yellow Ochre in both shadows to make them more transparent.<br /><br />The apple color was basically Viridian, Cad Yellow Light with a bit of Cad Red Light to tone the hue. I used the darker mixture of Viridian and Burnt Umber for the turning edges and shadows on the apples slices.<br />Note the Yellow Ochre in the table cloth. Adding a bit of this or Cadmium Yellow Medium will make a white cloth glow when used sparingly in the shadows where you see light coming through the cloth.<br /><br />The pot is looking up here. I've rounded the shape a bit and added a highlight to the rim of the pot. I'm starting to see more color in the interior but won't add it until later.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6zk0VSYGe-1QEfr6MS22H2f7KGNMHiiyq3_UwUjqqNnZNi46OpbIMAVcobvk09SNsbuMyxBV6H2yvcoVl5Q6re7uHiNQ6irSGO0rBCVixk0RA9Tdpz47WvVdIaVRCkTKJ1G8ZvPeupJql/s1600-h/Arc+of+Orchids.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285401329321272770" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 319px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6zk0VSYGe-1QEfr6MS22H2f7KGNMHiiyq3_UwUjqqNnZNi46OpbIMAVcobvk09SNsbuMyxBV6H2yvcoVl5Q6re7uHiNQ6irSGO0rBCVixk0RA9Tdpz47WvVdIaVRCkTKJ1G8ZvPeupJql/s400/Arc+of+Orchids.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></span><br /></p><br /><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">This is the finished painting but it took another hour or so to get here.<br /><br />The lights on the apple are in. Simple combo of Viridian Green, Cad Yellow Light and some white on the highlight portion. The stem was just some dark Burn Umber.<br /><br />I've added the reflections of the fruit to the pot and brushed some more color from the flower into the bulge of the pot in the front to bring it forward. Note that the reflections in the pot are vague. I didn't make them sharp edged because to do so in this type of painting only confuses the viewer.<br /><br />The apple core color is Naples Yellow and a touch of Cadmium Yellow Medium. The pits are just a smidge of Burn Sienna.<br /><br />For the table top, I used some Burn Sienna, Naples Yellow and touches of white to bring out the area where the light is hitting it. The front of the table is just a darker version of this color with smudges of Burn Umber and background color.<br />For the handles and foot of the pot, Just some small blobs of Naples Yellow and White mixture on a vaguely painted handle of Raw Umber. Note the shadow of the handle on the left side. This pops the handle and helps to give a dimension of reality. It's these little touches that make all the difference. Thanks for stopping by!<br /><br />If you'd like to purchase this painting, visit my blog at www.susanmartinspar.blogspot.com and click on the "Buy Now" button. You don't need a PayPal account and can choose to use just your credit card. $99.00 USD plus $15.00 S/H.<br /></p></span>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-61800826558649874062008-11-17T19:19:00.000-08:002008-11-17T20:37:42.121-08:00How to Paint Pink Roses in Two Hours<span style="font-family:arial;">My deepest apologies for having taken so long to post to this blog again. I've been touring the Mediterranean and before that summer had me in high gear for the festival season. But winter is here again - nearly, and so I'm back to my routine of publishing regularly.<br /></span><div><div><div><div><div><div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">I thought I'd start off with a small painting I did today for </span><a href="http://www.dailypainters.com/"><span style="font-family:arial;">Daily Painters</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. I thought that after a month or so away, it would be really hard to get into the studio, but I found myself getting excited about squeezing out paint as I moved around getting a small set up ready. The construction guys are working on my new studio so it was comforting to push paint around while I listened to the steady drum of hammering on my new roof.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">I know that I promised I'd talk about my workshop with David Leffel but I've decided that I'd talk about what I learned as I integrate it into lessons. That way it sticks for me and makes better sense for you. So, let's begin.<br /></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">Here's the set up.</span></div><br /><br /><div></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxNfDFzEiA0uQQh8Fye6d_RyDJnbB08MOcOc9RqMfZuoCSSiH2kKr5Em5ZWuRGlnBZ89KhAmouoB00uNqS6T35ZyJ0eu996csGUK_twe3L9hzkBvaf1EJat2HGSkYcXugvNXrv_75rSbJG/s1600-h/A+November+Roses.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269834021652802722" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 317px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxNfDFzEiA0uQQh8Fye6d_RyDJnbB08MOcOc9RqMfZuoCSSiH2kKr5Em5ZWuRGlnBZ89KhAmouoB00uNqS6T35ZyJ0eu996csGUK_twe3L9hzkBvaf1EJat2HGSkYcXugvNXrv_75rSbJG/s400/A+November+Roses.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br clear="left"><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Sorry that this photo's a bit on the blurry side. Before I left on vacation, I put everything away in anticipation of the construction crew breaking through to the old studio. So much as for construction schedules. I had some trouble locating the tripod. Don't worry - it gets better. Just a reminder to new folks just tuning in for the first time. These shots of the set up are just for your information. I NEVER use photos to paint from in still life. Photos distort and generally mask color and light in disproportionate ways. Shadows are always too dark and lack color and the highlights are always washed out. Texture all but disappears. I always work from life when I can, and I encourage and teach all my students to do the same.<br /><br />I kept the setup simple here because I needed to ease back into the painting process after a month away. In the next photo, you can see how I blocked in the basic shapes. I sort of drew the composition in with raw umber and then filled in the shadow areas with umber to get an idea of the composition and how I wanted to fill the space.<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_yuyRc3cFV5hubJDqa0BEJcnAn4kU5RkOyyoxbAoUGjKBsKF_RKvuIn_oGUq-S7zHJi7L44u7Gyzd8fs8WN0OkDapBA2FLMonFYraAYgSVzb4MamScqaZfeaaFovdLWdGLUJuBI1IXIYL/s1600-h/B+November+Roses.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269835464878025314" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 309px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_yuyRc3cFV5hubJDqa0BEJcnAn4kU5RkOyyoxbAoUGjKBsKF_RKvuIn_oGUq-S7zHJi7L44u7Gyzd8fs8WN0OkDapBA2FLMonFYraAYgSVzb4MamScqaZfeaaFovdLWdGLUJuBI1IXIYL/s400/B+November+Roses.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></p></div><br clear="left"><p><span style="font-family:arial;">After I did this little sketch, I decided that the whole thing needed to be moved down a bit and when I started to fill in the background, I did so. I used a combination of Thalo Blue, Ivory Black and Raw Umber to work in the darker areas of the background. The same combo with more white and Naples Yellow was used for the lighter area.<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIDShyphenhyphenfWwaSXQ2chsKFFe_seY3f3gNFkXtS0d8HNulp03n5Vt00tVaH1Un5pO1YAUhtaHmzGLs_KHrW6lTm1bNdUrpUaVQg9irbYggIPHdF1hbC6JE3HclXnSOqkfLgnic6VsSRUPzWXh0/s1600-h/C+November+Roses.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269836517844159746" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 292px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIDShyphenhyphenfWwaSXQ2chsKFFe_seY3f3gNFkXtS0d8HNulp03n5Vt00tVaH1Un5pO1YAUhtaHmzGLs_KHrW6lTm1bNdUrpUaVQg9irbYggIPHdF1hbC6JE3HclXnSOqkfLgnic6VsSRUPzWXh0/s400/C+November+Roses.jpg" border="0" /></a></p></div><br clear="left"><p><span style="font-family:arial;">You can see that I haven't yet moved things down here, but it becomes evident in the next photo.<br /></span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDB5Evd4hEoXVKEp8o4sXo2bJC9PNMob3W_2w0lRRajZjj4qr_Uaerly-BbhFrcfQ0CExiwqSyAJVIToB_F6_AUybzJGiklHrvnKv4j9dA7sY57YQCHfsIrQzHlj1HJXgDoJX5wiiS01a6/s1600-h/D+November+Roses.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269837569329003394" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 283px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDB5Evd4hEoXVKEp8o4sXo2bJC9PNMob3W_2w0lRRajZjj4qr_Uaerly-BbhFrcfQ0CExiwqSyAJVIToB_F6_AUybzJGiklHrvnKv4j9dA7sY57YQCHfsIrQzHlj1HJXgDoJX5wiiS01a6/s400/D+November+Roses.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></p></div><br clear="left"><p><span style="font-family:arial;">David Leffel prefers filbert bristles and that's a big change for me. I have traditionally preferred to use sables and still do for the smoothing of a background. But here you can see that I am using a palette knife which is another of David's favorite tools. I am quite enjoying the mastering of this tool and find that it works very well for helping me to attain the texture I desire on my vases.<br /><br />To turn the vase, I used more of the background color with a bit of Ultramarine Blue. I darkened it a bit more with Ivory Black and used it along the core shadow. This added some drama to an otherwise ho hum set up. For the vase itself, I used white, some of the Thalo Blue and a big of Naples yellow. I didn't mixed the color evenly but just jostled it a bit with my brush to give a more interesting mixture. Then after using a brush in a cross wise (across the form) motion, I then turned to the palette knife to bring in texture. Notice the reflected light on the shadow side. Just a slightly lighter mixture.<br /><br />I find students get all tied up over what "color" to make the reflected light. I'm a bit like David here in that I use color on colorlessness as my MO. That means that I don't dither too much over the dead areas but keep them simple. You can choose to add some color in the reflected light areas but they should be kept generally cool in temperature. Shadows should be warm. I laughed at the workshop when I heard David say to a student, "cool light, warm shadows; warm light....uh...warm shadows." Shadows just look a lot better when they are warm. If you are using blue in your shadows, use a warm blue - one that has red in it to warm it. Here on the cloth, I used some of the background color neutralized with raw umber to warm it a bit. I felt OK using that blueish tone because there was so much of it in the background and vase already that it made sense to use it in the shadows.<br /><br />For the cloth, I used a touch of the background color with Ivory Black, a tiny bit -TINY - of Cadmium Yellow and a touch of white for the shadows areas. Some warmth was added in areas with some Yellow Ochre ans white. The light areas of the cloth were done with white and Naples Yellow. I used a palette knife in places to build up the highlights.<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF9ToYyPRLgWZhjzq17VTdyg2xw6cWfOFI8UZ2CvU9j4mxTw-D09VxF8YRTk0uFfEOnkaXip9HiT7hEd8zB0YGPm8wyzAZzSZ_mccibdIKHFW66t0FCtQWTWc-95F7l-TAK5uRU16qk_vq/s1600-h/E+November+Roses.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269844761585404994" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 299px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF9ToYyPRLgWZhjzq17VTdyg2xw6cWfOFI8UZ2CvU9j4mxTw-D09VxF8YRTk0uFfEOnkaXip9HiT7hEd8zB0YGPm8wyzAZzSZ_mccibdIKHFW66t0FCtQWTWc-95F7l-TAK5uRU16qk_vq/s400/E+November+Roses.jpg" border="0" /></span></a></p></div><br clear="left"><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">For the table top I used a bit of Burnt Umber, white and Cadmium Yellow Light for the top and for the sides, just Burnt Umber. I kept the brush work loose and strove to keep it light. Next, on to the roses.<br /><br />I like to use quinacradone colors for my pink or red flowers because the color is very intense and doesn't get washed out with white as do the Cadmium reds. I used Daniel Smith Quinacradone Pink for the base color of the roses and then I added mixture of Cadmium Orange and Cadmium Yellow Deep to it to bring out the coral color in the roses.<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9nayPPDqHAGPopYoaRVQx1xLOXGd5nLh4mIQD3JifWC8V7uviCswo_mxaQsDiNZDVGJZPSUxHEe5N6XBsVqMRQ89aL0yopAbKhQUq9TKE9enYmMw_Saoe2uDa_m4_qx9TYxiAPG0LGKMv/s1600-h/F+November+Roses.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269846320896071346" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 267px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9nayPPDqHAGPopYoaRVQx1xLOXGd5nLh4mIQD3JifWC8V7uviCswo_mxaQsDiNZDVGJZPSUxHEe5N6XBsVqMRQ89aL0yopAbKhQUq9TKE9enYmMw_Saoe2uDa_m4_qx9TYxiAPG0LGKMv/s400/F+November+Roses.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></p></div><br clear="left"><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">While it looks like there's a lot going on in these flowers, their construction was really quite simple. I used a medium size filbert and brushed in the center color. A couple of strokes was all it took to make the petals. Where I wanted a petal to turn or an edge to come forward, I piled on the paint, made the edge sharper and sculpted the paint. I use Maroger Medium for this as it allows me to retain brush strokes and build the paint up. I grayed out the pink with an addition of background color (it looks more blue here than green due to the thalo, but in reality it has more of a green cast which neutralizes the pink in the flowers and makes for a good shadow.<br /><br />In the last photo and the finished painting below, you can see the leaves were worked in last. I used Thalo Blue and Cadmium Yellow Light with touches of Naples Yellow here and there. For the darkest parts of the leaves, I mixed the color with a touch of Ivory Black to strengthen the darks and shadows. Let me emphasize the fact that when I use Ivory Black, these are just little dabs of this neutral. Ivory Black has a lot of blue in it and can actually be used in some paintings as blue if properly painted alongside colors of more neutral or warm tint. Try making a lovely green by adding some Cadmium Yellow to Ivory Black. You couldn't do that if it didn't have blue in it. You just don't want to overdue the black or use it by itself for shadows. It would deaden the space. Shadows should have some color or light breathed into them. That's why I use Cadmium Yellow in my shadows. The last thing I did here was to add more Naples Yellow to the background to liven it up and some pure Quinacradone Pink and Alazarin Crimson in the center of the flowers. A quick little warm up to get back into the flow of paint. Any questions, just post them here and I'll answer them for you so everyone gets to see the answers. Thanks for tuning in!<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV6kbuBNiGHYvvtTS-QZ-8EcSM3Han3TCWzbl9aS82J4IRPbIFi3Y-rl57zpTwxNL9SBacKWNKHZ9kvG5ARmV8_IGEDJ2yonkN4k4S-Fpbeh9nTZlVIxsBVWNFIVkJyrvXwfQOa_TgC3Fj/s1600-h/November+Roses.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269848179972659762" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 299px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV6kbuBNiGHYvvtTS-QZ-8EcSM3Han3TCWzbl9aS82J4IRPbIFi3Y-rl57zpTwxNL9SBacKWNKHZ9kvG5ARmV8_IGEDJ2yonkN4k4S-Fpbeh9nTZlVIxsBVWNFIVkJyrvXwfQOa_TgC3Fj/s400/November+Roses.jpg" border="0" /></a></p></div>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-81812035095112327412008-08-27T19:54:00.000-07:002008-08-27T20:01:23.073-07:00AddendumOops! I hit the "enter" key and published before I was ready. Well, I'm almost ready.<br /><br />I'm working on three things this week: shadow strength, stroke direction and quality, and brush work. All stuff I should know, but need to be strongly reminded of. I'll give you all the details as the weeks progress. But suffice it to say, I'm putting tape around all my brushes to remind me not to let my hand slip below the tape. Seems a good idea. I generally hold my brushes at the ends but forget a lot during the initial layin. David says it's important to start finishing a painting from the first stroke. Now that's something to think about.<br /><br />More later. I need a shower and some sleep.Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-90028538176032075442008-08-27T19:49:00.000-07:002008-08-27T19:54:02.762-07:00Day Three David Leffel WorkshopI'm pooped. I've been painting since 9:00 am this morning and my brain feels like mush. I'm definitely in workshop curve curse. I forgot how to paint fruit. Fruit!!! I totally forgot how. David said I've been going "down hill" all day. Certainly feels like it. At least it's not a surprise and it means that I'm trying to unlearn old habits and learn new ones. Of course I forgot how to paint fruit - he does it so differently than I do!Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-8893470299804554422008-08-25T20:12:00.000-07:002008-08-25T20:22:23.576-07:00Day One of David Leffel Workshop<span style="font-family:arial;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Aaaagh</span>! I forgot to bring the gizmo for my camera that downloads the photos!!! But take heart...I'm taking tons of photos and lots of notes. I promise you all I'll start posting the workshop stuff as soon as I can following my return on Friday. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">All my fears are put to rest. David <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Leffel</span> is an incredible, humble, beautiful human being and an incredible teacher. We spent the first half of the day in a demonstration and the second half setting up and starting our own still life's. It's very exciting! There are about 20 students in the workshop and everyone is very intense about the work. Everyone is on a different level but it doesn't seem to matter - David meets everyone on the level they are working on. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Just as I feared, I'm in workshop mode. But David said that my set up was great and the painting is coming along great so I shouldn't worry. However, I'm attempting to do the entire panting in hog bristles which is a huge change for me. I generally lay in the painting with bristles and then switch to sables for the rest of the work. I feel like I've spent the day fighting the brushes. But so far I'm resisting the temptation to switch to my regulars. The palette is also a bit more limited than the one I generally use but so far that doesn't seem to be too much of a problem. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I'm pretty beat tonight and I'm going to hop in the shower and then snuggle into a comfortable</span> <span style="font-family:arial;">bed for some reading. I'll check in with you all in a day or so.</span>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-91493582802171696982008-08-23T16:24:00.001-07:002008-08-23T16:35:32.034-07:00Learning with David Leffel<span style="font-family:arial;">I've been rather busy the last couple of months and things aren't going to settle down anytime soon. My studio is undergoing re-construction this month and I'm taking a David Leffel workshop in Fall City starting this monday through Friday. I'm very excited. If you don't know who David Leffel is, I suggest you Google him. He's considered a living Master and his work has influenced every stroke of paint I've made in the past two years. He, above all, is considered one of the great teachers of our time. Here's a </span><a href="http://www.clintwatson.net/blog/956"><span style="font-family:arial;">comment on someone's blog about him</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I consider it a great privilege to take a workshop with this painter and at the same time I'm terrified. I understand completely what my students feel when I approach their easels during a class. On one hand you are so hoping to get a kudo from the teacher, terrified they won't say anything (what's wrong with it????Is it that awful??? What am I paying you for?) and at the same time worried that they will. What I have resigned myself to being in "workshop curve". I seem to forget everything I've ever known and everything I've ever studied, my hands become absolute paddles, my brain gets addled and I totally do a brain freeze on mixing color. What <em>is</em> that anyway? Sigh. But I'm still excited to meet the Master. I'll be trying to post a few things to this blog during the week, but forgive me if it doesn't happen. I promise to share everything and anything I learn with you all. Many thanks to Rosa for calling me about this workshop. I didn't think at the time that I would be able to do it. My husband convinced me otherwise. What a gift.</span>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-39954386069079197692008-06-19T12:31:00.000-07:002008-06-19T12:50:25.520-07:00How to paint an Asian Jar with Flowers<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-w0c7Zd-960jYqIRkedkrs60UtON4mJ1Vbo8AYkL7X4HI1FhKcAPkk34xBEK_41D2RRve-9RKZUAeTz8QTPgb2C5YaQZzLQnza4d56T9xtZ-Pda4gGE_3DzhA0HhYVgiPqjc7-oGaV3d0/s1600-h/Asian+Ginger+Jar+with+Flowers.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5213677519223587682" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-w0c7Zd-960jYqIRkedkrs60UtON4mJ1Vbo8AYkL7X4HI1FhKcAPkk34xBEK_41D2RRve-9RKZUAeTz8QTPgb2C5YaQZzLQnza4d56T9xtZ-Pda4gGE_3DzhA0HhYVgiPqjc7-oGaV3d0/s400/Asian+Ginger+Jar+with+Flowers.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">Well, it's been awhile and I apologize for that. I haven't been publishing as much due to the need to take care of other business. The good news is I'm getting ready to enlarge my studio, the bad news is, that project along with all the others this summer is keeping me out of the studio. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">But I've been busy nonetheless. I've worked out a link system to my website that will allow me to do the actual blogging a bit easier. Blogger's set up makes it difficult to upload multiple images and still keep things compact and simple. It often takes me three or more hours to do a simple lesson on blogger. I'm hoping with the addition of a "Student's Atelier" pages to my website, I will be able to keep things organized.Essentially, nothing changes for you as this blog continues to be the launch point for all lessons. So to begin, <a href="http://susanspar.com/Oil%20paint%20lessons.htm">click here</a>. If the link fails to work for some reason, just paste the following into your browser and away you go.</span></div><a href="http://susanspar.com/Oil%20paint%20lessons.htm"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://susanspar.com/Oil%20paint%20lessons.htm</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"></span>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-7956270572015245652008-05-26T16:39:00.000-07:002008-05-26T18:47:20.970-07:00How to paint an Asian Tea Pot and Peaches<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5PKGs4-VHFG5x05YBKbLLbJkm43pZOpSKrYO9hD9XPGTk5KVHhRSmE08W6Rnxyr0RB99V7L0BgVOcLUuA_5HTqslUTeeXsDWGgsWktQMyMbpCVQxmMzvNB325wQMC4dpyc6WwCh6kqHSv/s1600-h/A+Dragon+Pot.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204836776473641090" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5PKGs4-VHFG5x05YBKbLLbJkm43pZOpSKrYO9hD9XPGTk5KVHhRSmE08W6Rnxyr0RB99V7L0BgVOcLUuA_5HTqslUTeeXsDWGgsWktQMyMbpCVQxmMzvNB325wQMC4dpyc6WwCh6kqHSv/s400/A+Dragon+Pot.jpg" border="0" /></a> I recently spent a weekend in Victoria visiting with some friends. An afternoon jaunt to China Town netted me this lovely Tea Pot. I fell in love with the dragon. With summer nearly here and other demands calling for my attention, I thought I'd spend the entire day on this painting and see what the investment in time on a single sitting could yeild.<br /><br />Here's the set up. I ended up changing a few things once I began the layin.<br /><br />I love to paint lace and it's always a challenge to make it come out right. I nearly always have to remind myself to take my time on it. I'm always glad when I do.<br /><br /><br />I started the painting with a basic monochromatic underpainting using some acrylic black and white. I wanted to get a feel for the light in this piece and a good value study is always helpful. You can see that I kept things pretty loose and used a relatively large brush. I avoided details and just kind of played<br />with how I wanted the brush strokes to go. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmCPP0CgjcPAXHus1xdo1k8XSbkfKgWxwOTMqP_J-0I-GWLNfXcRG-GyPxafo9VpIEwMjM3UjipcaWQFNC7FzybquqH7J_FmcN_SfkubOzY08lmYtaRTHFq9VnNJglSQIqjTmD7SpMSjTX/s1600-h/B+Dragon+Pot.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204839061396242642" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmCPP0CgjcPAXHus1xdo1k8XSbkfKgWxwOTMqP_J-0I-GWLNfXcRG-GyPxafo9VpIEwMjM3UjipcaWQFNC7FzybquqH7J_FmcN_SfkubOzY08lmYtaRTHFq9VnNJglSQIqjTmD7SpMSjTX/s400/B+Dragon+Pot.jpg" border="0" /></a>That's one of the cool things about working with acrylic at this stage. You get to see how things will play out. The lighting for the background was a bit tricky. I wanted it to be atmospheric and not too dark. But I didn't want it chalky either. I knew the transitions would be important.</div><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /><br />In the next picture you can see that I've laid in a background mixed from burnt umber, cad yellow and a touch of naples yellow for the lighter hue. I've blended that with a darker mix that has a bit of ultramarine blue and no naples yellow in it.<br /></div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcWPvKkiy5wTaRsi8IOSXE1GT_RqS31yBK7zJ-3ZfrulWQ7s-t3aMEbsftSMA4CeHOgBBQSuen5nwmczSEwcaDMJI-JZP-7iJ5UpzIypUOgbNTRhHkbYegJDOn51JSUYqJ6zSL_UOiXeqY/s1600-h/C+Dragon+Pot.jpg"></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm35dAzaySiQpFWdpZpXVZngMDc2DzgIHwOGtyihv1sU77B45MxS-caHwyol91sdVO9MaCjWXG4ou0QLfbpFAesUGjOHtE2bcrHZSA1vZ-A96VCe2OwMfEHbvtVo1yt_Mr_GFwSy-aOxlK/s1600-h/D+Dragon+Pot.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204836780768608434" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm35dAzaySiQpFWdpZpXVZngMDc2DzgIHwOGtyihv1sU77B45MxS-caHwyol91sdVO9MaCjWXG4ou0QLfbpFAesUGjOHtE2bcrHZSA1vZ-A96VCe2OwMfEHbvtVo1yt_Mr_GFwSy-aOxlK/s400/D+Dragon+Pot.jpg" border="0" /></a> I smoothed out the brush strokes with a very soft black sable Performen brush. I love these brushes. They have a multitude of uses and cost relatively little compared to other sables. ASWexpress.com carries them.</div><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /><br />Here you can see that I started with the base color of the tea pot. I've used titanium white, naples yellow, some background color and a touch of ultramarine blue. This is mixed in three shades from light to dark. I'm very careful to conserve the lightest light which will be used later for highlights on the pot. </div><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br />A good thing to do when you are painting a light colored piece (or any color for that matter) is to squint down and compare the value of the object right next to the highlight. You'll be surprised at just how dark by comparison it really is.<br /></div><br /><div>Remember to keep your shadows thin and the lights thick. There's actually a good amount of paint on the lighter areas.</div><br /><div><br />Now the peaches. First I mixed the shadow color using a bit of alazarin crimsen and sap green. I pushed this into the shadows of the fruit. Next I mixed a light mixture of cad yellow deep, cad light, background green and naples yellow - keeping the mixture light and not trying to over mix it. Stir it together on your palette like you are making muffins. Too much mixing and the muffins go flat. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEink6AclDPhFlDQfBsO6HF_saIbIgqz_24GVUyC2uQl0XpOhy8GQl_PaPKUVJ5Qf4J67jqOFGiuaXJvviEbPp3KaqmU8qdGSUIV25gb5uh5PtuFYuKzLowtFVrJwmqzOnppGCZryzi8PdkE/s1600-h/E+Dragon+Pot.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204854445969097026" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEink6AclDPhFlDQfBsO6HF_saIbIgqz_24GVUyC2uQl0XpOhy8GQl_PaPKUVJ5Qf4J67jqOFGiuaXJvviEbPp3KaqmU8qdGSUIV25gb5uh5PtuFYuKzLowtFVrJwmqzOnppGCZryzi8PdkE/s400/E+Dragon+Pot.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><p>Things are not too defined here and I'm keeping my edges soft. I'm looking for value changes and just trying to make sure that things stay where they are supposed to. There's actually three peaches on the right. One in front of the other and I'm struggling here to get one pushed back and the other brought forward. </p><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><p>A note about edges. Edges are like the marks on a music sheet telling the musician when to go slow and when to go fast. You edges are supposed to act as guides to the viewer, signaling them as to the pace of the painting. Your job is to conduct the symphony and lead the viewer where you want them to go. But it's best to leave all your edges soft until you get to near the end stages. Then you can adjust edges with a little more authority. </p><br /><div>Notice the spout and how it appears to be covered with background color. That's because it is. When I lay in a color or area behind an object, I don't paint to the edge. This creates a edge that is too crisp making objects appear cut out or pasted on. The trick is to "paint through" the object. You can come back in later and paint back into the area appropriately. I've added it finally and put a light passage near the top in the next photo.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>I've also laid in a basic color for the grapes. I started with alazarin crimsen and black but changed that to cadmium red and black. Worked better. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS5RKkNBt8oYF3TfPOCu_TCD7jtJqNDIR81aBydoY_PiT2IzB3e0rWMPGbUYz0AMn-GzN-X6nW0E-70FwSgD-6JHeNxeVhiQ1u9LoiJzG82COf_6donigxCuArwCiOQjov8-kinXp11vql/s1600-h/F+Dragon+Pot.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204845478077382882" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS5RKkNBt8oYF3TfPOCu_TCD7jtJqNDIR81aBydoY_PiT2IzB3e0rWMPGbUYz0AMn-GzN-X6nW0E-70FwSgD-6JHeNxeVhiQ1u9LoiJzG82COf_6donigxCuArwCiOQjov8-kinXp11vql/s400/F+Dragon+Pot.jpg" border="0" /></a>Here comes the lace. I thought a lot about what I was doing here so that I could explain it to you as I go along.</div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><p>Basically, when you paint lace - and this goes for almost any medium, you paint the holes first. After laying in the cloth with a similar mixture to that of the tea pot, I took a bit of raw umber and background mixture and then took a soft brush and kind of stippled in the designs of the lace where the holes were. Don't worry too much about getting all the detail. If you get started with a basic pattern, just repeat it with a few variations making sure to follow the folds of the cloth. Pay attention to the lights and darks (overall values) on the cloth. You don't want to go light where you should go darker.</p><br /><div>Oops! You can see I messed up got some paint where I didn't want it - namely on the peach. No worry - everything is fixable. </div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>In order to brighten some of the pattern and make it stand out more, I mixed some of my light mixture with white and naples yellow and thickened it with Maroger. Then using a small brush I picked up bits of the paint and laid it on the areas where I wanted the pattern to stand out. NOT EVERYWHERE! Sorry. I sometimes get excited with my personal students too. Good thing they like me. Here's a close up before I put in the brights.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeNqlREw3_e5MkvMo07Ccqgevwvxp0SahP7tpuA7ZXJo0o9qmIn8Cds5CIYURY73iLp5ijdL4zjwrbEv5rzNeo9bGDayCYNSQpw334UemK8Sxdq7vA0hAZ5NEzsYssX7FSm7V7VEkc9VP8/s1600-h/G+Dragon+Pot.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204847900438937842" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeNqlREw3_e5MkvMo07Ccqgevwvxp0SahP7tpuA7ZXJo0o9qmIn8Cds5CIYURY73iLp5ijdL4zjwrbEv5rzNeo9bGDayCYNSQpw334UemK8Sxdq7vA0hAZ5NEzsYssX7FSm7V7VEkc9VP8/s400/G+Dragon+Pot.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />A note here about brush strokes. David Leffel (my hero), says that you should not be able to hear the stroke of the brush on the canvas. If you can you either don't have enough paint on the brush or you don't have enough medium on it. You should practice getting just the stroke you want with a loaded brush. A deliberate stroke that is not correct will look 100 times better than a correct passage that is overworked. This takes practice. Lots of it. So get your paints out and start painting a piece of fruit a day. By the end of the year, you'll either be fat as a cow from eating your leftovers or you'll be a genius at laying in paint. Or maybe both, but it will be worth it.</div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /><br />Ok. Here you can see the lights a bit better. Now that lace is starting to come to life. Now it's time to fix those poor peaches.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZTqtYzJEEZHIGhgwdYJRE1fA4_smZc-35M-udQBeG1IWCiRedvoOd68aFQnp4i_l_Ok7edE3IoS7Zf0felqkOdJGNof4zErKJdAwIQEhwn9jLT_j82lG-zQHAXs_ketGUTC7H8HsUf4VH/s1600-h/I+Dragon+Pot.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204850331390427410" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZTqtYzJEEZHIGhgwdYJRE1fA4_smZc-35M-udQBeG1IWCiRedvoOd68aFQnp4i_l_Ok7edE3IoS7Zf0felqkOdJGNof4zErKJdAwIQEhwn9jLT_j82lG-zQHAXs_ketGUTC7H8HsUf4VH/s400/I+Dragon+Pot.jpg" border="0" /></a>Placement is important here so I push the one in the back further against the background and reduce it's size a bit with background color and some adjustments to the cloth. This peach is furthest back and so it needs a soft edge where it meets the background color. I dragged some of the green down into it and soften the edge with my brush. The edge against the pot is a bit harder. I want a little air there between the peach and the pot. The colors are mixed with cad red light, cad yellow deep and cad yellow light. Not all mixed together, mind you, but in subtle ways to bring the color of the peach out. To turn the edge, I've used some of the back ground color and alazarin crimsen where the light turns to the shadow side. </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><p>The second peach also needs to be back a bit but not as far back as the formost peach. I've added a bit of green to the mixture. The peach fuz on the top is a mixture of cobalt blue and a bit of white. I've kept it's top edge soft and the left edge a bit sharper. </p><br /><div>The peach in the foreground is lower on the surface of the lace. This brings it forward. It's edges are a bit sharper as well. But the shadow side is soft. Note the core shadow on the foremost peach. It turns the fruit.</div><br /><div><br />I've added color to the grapes. A bit of blue (cobalt & white) for some reflection and a bit of cad yellow and rose for the areas of the grape where light shines through. The highlights are thick and I've run the end of my brush through them to add texture.<br /></div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPLEOjjXBAz3hdrO0XzMJXvgSrXUA4-cwPLLVgafjkUmUfSCYtZOqRplBjX6ECRvp6NEzNfOalsIwGKwPiJiOoBW5xqVo850pKOtR8cRKBt_BBjtC2f4gqZPRaXpIDD2jnHINPb1lGaNEL/s1600-h/J+Dragon+Pot.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204853020039954722" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 336px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 245px" height="245" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPLEOjjXBAz3hdrO0XzMJXvgSrXUA4-cwPLLVgafjkUmUfSCYtZOqRplBjX6ECRvp6NEzNfOalsIwGKwPiJiOoBW5xqVo850pKOtR8cRKBt_BBjtC2f4gqZPRaXpIDD2jnHINPb1lGaNEL/s400/J+Dragon+Pot.jpg" width="259" border="0" /></a><br />The handles have been ignored until now so it's time to give them a little attention. This is a simple mixture of yellow ochre. I've laid them in here with a bright brush to keep the square look I'm after. </div><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div>Next I lightened the mixture a bit and laid it into the areas where the light is hitting. Notice how everything is still fairly rough.</div><br /><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Eoe3xHESGRVfNJtuh7vAdRoGIZTc_-dQ8PWPP5sGpkl_yRYl88wuDis4rxMFOCn0Dh-S8B6xl60QDQKGgnAAfLrPDYOxggRsie0bftlSwl37z0oQ7Q91PspPr3IzbQA7AIyjpPYtq12c/s1600-h/K+Dragon+Pot.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204855515415953746" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 337px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 206px" height="228" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Eoe3xHESGRVfNJtuh7vAdRoGIZTc_-dQ8PWPP5sGpkl_yRYl88wuDis4rxMFOCn0Dh-S8B6xl60QDQKGgnAAfLrPDYOxggRsie0bftlSwl37z0oQ7Q91PspPr3IzbQA7AIyjpPYtq12c/s400/K+Dragon+Pot.jpg" width="366" border="0" /></a>Lastly, I take a bit of umber softened with background green and make tiny little lines to indicate the weave pattern on the handles.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnVftdm6dcKdLlPQxILICE_zc1cUtuW_8y_di0Eo6oHqzVEBLSyWhyphenhyphenERE_tRMZn3_pEbVyErK5jCG6gfUlcwfD91yOS0eYGUIlXeaiAo7ZAvRs364t85xITuhF8Ne4nxh7bQuX1UDst8gT/s1600-h/D+Dragon+Pot.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7IMbRQxZVgzWsG2C6YFoUPJdck_iqTwvGjMpyNA6Bj9asU5zgJm_IUHGWqmekUQdH8OyrjdinUVXhpXfPW7df76qVt0juPo7g3cPjFGbmZ_dXCiW9QFR_HbYwoSE5fxqKwhv0dAcOFqOU/s1600-h/B+Dragon+Pot.jpg"></a><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><br /></div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisdK3AyCvAP6Zo1NtMv6YgDEnSL9YWb32OowDFzzcpfTWMdNUOBgtwuGdwgkvqwVpvt4HORpcjK7K1nEhkB5G1mU44nyRbA1gAyQ3Kgcqs-_PqaiFTHYMIwcdMmiVEb7mA5-sevBU0g7gu/s1600-h/L+Dragon+Pot.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204856086646604130" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" height="202" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisdK3AyCvAP6Zo1NtMv6YgDEnSL9YWb32OowDFzzcpfTWMdNUOBgtwuGdwgkvqwVpvt4HORpcjK7K1nEhkB5G1mU44nyRbA1gAyQ3Kgcqs-_PqaiFTHYMIwcdMmiVEb7mA5-sevBU0g7gu/s400/L+Dragon+Pot.jpg" width="344" border="0" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2UyMTYsVxl534oaJvCx7dJu2CmLIxsQWF_kmgUgG-qJTDFT-ksdzIscyVnND8PxIutrKejOdN67dJ-KIQDJ6Rb7jq5sHzl46jDfMOnwk-IiAZrd73d9lx2sabuFDH9agr4XAz0BPH7xfi/s1600-h/C+Dragon+Pot.jpg"></a><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Here you can also see that I've started to lay in the design of the dragon. I mixed a glaze of ultramarine blue with a touch of alazarin crimsen to darken it and then started to work out the design of the dragon. </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><p>I'm really grateful for those life drawing groups I go to every Tuesday. All that sketching has paid off and allowed me to get the dragon in fairly accurately without a lot of fuss. If you are trying something like this, I would suggest that you first let the white paint dry. If it's dry, you can make all the mistakes you want because you can just wipe out the glaze and start over. Here my paint was still wet so not only could I not afford a mistake, I needed to lay the glaze on with short light strokes so as not to disturb the wet paint underneath.</p><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJsEAjRGJUF26FezAl01tuM3sDMFOH63YdD8P_67R7t-K0lL_C7YM9UIUIIjOfQ7Zx6onW5hy4ggbPvAnNB5N7PFZ_4cdnFjh5GmAhbN_9iZsegm_8nJDxkTwBU6msdT_dejpMAD6wdwq0/s1600-h/M+Dragon+Pot.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204858629267243378" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJsEAjRGJUF26FezAl01tuM3sDMFOH63YdD8P_67R7t-K0lL_C7YM9UIUIIjOfQ7Zx6onW5hy4ggbPvAnNB5N7PFZ_4cdnFjh5GmAhbN_9iZsegm_8nJDxkTwBU6msdT_dejpMAD6wdwq0/s400/M+Dragon+Pot.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div><br /><p><br />After the dragon was finished, I put the design along the top edge of the pot in. I changed it from the design on the original pot to something simpler (my back was killing me). </p><br /><div><br /></div><br /><p>From this point on, I adjusted edges, checked measurements and put in the leaves behind the fruit. Oh, yeah...notice the highlight in the final photo. See how light it looks against what you thought was a really light pot?</p><br /><div><br /></div><br /><p>Phew. An all day painting session, but it paid off. What do you think?</p><br /><br /><br /><br />Oh. Just a note here...I appreciate your comments on the blog but I'd like you all to feel free to start a dialogue where you can learn from one another too. Feel free to post and ask questions of each other.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">"The Dragon Pot"</span></strong></div><div><strong>12" x 14", Oil on Canvas Panel </strong></div><div><strong></strong> </div><div><strong><a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290233833394&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123">Click here to bid</a><br /></div></strong><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzePo8na7cpXFYqaxVHQt0adcQr2O2mCph-agV4uR2WtEo483Ndvbg_vTm9tpjmufGZVgUCNQ7aH7rXqG9iUK56jrDnqiC_UYylPRjSEbQcaFLQIQb_8qXWB9LCvzHPUaq9ybQjogIlq3W/s1600-h/The+Dragon+Pot.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204859410951291266" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzePo8na7cpXFYqaxVHQt0adcQr2O2mCph-agV4uR2WtEo483Ndvbg_vTm9tpjmufGZVgUCNQ7aH7rXqG9iUK56jrDnqiC_UYylPRjSEbQcaFLQIQb_8qXWB9LCvzHPUaq9ybQjogIlq3W/s400/The+Dragon+Pot.jpg" border="0" /></a></p>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-87553680674923728062008-05-12T20:16:00.000-07:002008-05-12T22:05:29.210-07:00How to paint roses, Rose Oil Painting, 12" x 16" on Linen Panel<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif9I7g6X99f2YRGWjTZLsmbXrEVRfLpfl6dCmeRY63TUUNMGnGTEvrDtfecO7sz6ujl1VJjQo_DCdHssv7KBNRE0XhV2LY3xAv5WTtn63_qDSGHRqRS0XqtE-V_zj2eUkO7QiophqoVK3c/s1600-h/B+Light+from+Above.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199696864469651250" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif9I7g6X99f2YRGWjTZLsmbXrEVRfLpfl6dCmeRY63TUUNMGnGTEvrDtfecO7sz6ujl1VJjQo_DCdHssv7KBNRE0XhV2LY3xAv5WTtn63_qDSGHRqRS0XqtE-V_zj2eUkO7QiophqoVK3c/s400/B+Light+from+Above.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br />For a lot of people, the life of an artist seems like a romantic and dreamy existence. Well...it is, a lot of the time. But a lot of the time, it's just a huge amount of hard work and a pretty isolated existence. Every now and then, the routine of getting up early and going into the studio to paint or the office to work, or the gallery to handle business details, picking up supplies, dropping off at the post office, etc., etc., etc., gets to me. This weekend was like that so I took a few days off just to hang around, eat Weight Watcher snacks, read, play racquetball and ride my bike. Today, rested and refreshed, I went back to work.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The light in the studio was pretty bright but also pretty inspiring. I felt like white roses to go with the coolness of the setting. Here's the set up.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I always try to start my paintings with a concept. This is a thought that I have about what I'd like to achieve. It's not necessarily a picture in my mind, but more like an idea. The purpose of a concept is to provide a road map to the painting. If you hold your concept in mind throughout the process, it will keep you on track. It will also tell you when your painting is done. Once you have fulfilled your concept, then that's it. You're done. My concept for this piece was for overhead light which would pool over the top of the subject causing the objects below to be top lit. Instead of a transparent background, I wanted to have a very dark background to set off the roses.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKI2K4ot5XBrHwnkAnG9zhRvVNVQ9CC1ibuSTbRcksT3nCU-pP5HYE1t24vHB8vcvhglpiSYTCIKOzgMGxsnWmJGIxP-Pi7QiOgcuXhCqnJzKbcoXPO819E0NXtM8xYBJxwlw_Bn1uVl9M/s1600-h/c+Light+from+Above.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199696877354553154" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKI2K4ot5XBrHwnkAnG9zhRvVNVQ9CC1ibuSTbRcksT3nCU-pP5HYE1t24vHB8vcvhglpiSYTCIKOzgMGxsnWmJGIxP-Pi7QiOgcuXhCqnJzKbcoXPO819E0NXtM8xYBJxwlw_Bn1uVl9M/s400/c+Light+from+Above.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />I started the painting with a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">burnt</span> sienna tone which I laid in the night before with a drop or two of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Liquin</span> to help it set up in time for the morning session. This morning, I did a quick outline of the subject in raw umber. Sorry for the poor photo - I held the camera here so things got a bit blurry. The rest of them are better.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM-8BbkQA5SnA1mTN3gHm4v0baI-yxw7hdhbidPi74ZHp-Y3B6y3AVWmN5f0arCMfDUWmzfYOwFCTYSyESpb9dbels4emlXx2Zsuv3XEA5UnYBX7D0q7rlqNvAkl2A07QlOZeVu_MiomEQ/s1600-h/d+Light+from+Above.jpg"></a></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I laid in the background - 2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">nd</span> picture, with some umber mixed with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">thalo</span> green and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">alizarin</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">crimson</span>. I left it loose around the flowers as I wanted some of the background sienna to show through around the roses.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM-8BbkQA5SnA1mTN3gHm4v0baI-yxw7hdhbidPi74ZHp-Y3B6y3AVWmN5f0arCMfDUWmzfYOwFCTYSyESpb9dbels4emlXx2Zsuv3XEA5UnYBX7D0q7rlqNvAkl2A07QlOZeVu_MiomEQ/s1600-h/d+Light+from+Above.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199696885944487762" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM-8BbkQA5SnA1mTN3gHm4v0baI-yxw7hdhbidPi74ZHp-Y3B6y3AVWmN5f0arCMfDUWmzfYOwFCTYSyESpb9dbels4emlXx2Zsuv3XEA5UnYBX7D0q7rlqNvAkl2A07QlOZeVu_MiomEQ/s400/d+Light+from+Above.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />I was using an <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">ott</span> light here on the painting as well as on the set up which, unfortunately, puts a bit of glare on the painting. I would turn this off from time to time to get a better reading on my values. The fact that I work in natural light most days, can create problems as I try to eliminate <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">extraneous</span> light sources and this can lead to a pretty dark room.<br /><br />As I don't have overhead skylights in the studio, I needed a cool light source over my set up. So I set up one of my other <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Ott</span> Lights over the set up. Because this does not exactly work the same as natural light on the subject, I had to turn this off from time to time to get a better idea of what some of the objects look light in dimmer light.<br /><br /><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTBQE-WBSPPDJc2mXzUJe0u8iXQKub_4Y6N0La9AaPWmj8r0g6hLpdmhp6toMXLryxVOit3UJDmEsZuQAARK8KYl0k2KgmT2t3GHQ1bUJe8uhWXEXT28LjYa6_3-CfXbZ79PY4Z4ZOcqvF/s1600-h/e+Light+from+Above.jpg"></a></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTBQE-WBSPPDJc2mXzUJe0u8iXQKub_4Y6N0La9AaPWmj8r0g6hLpdmhp6toMXLryxVOit3UJDmEsZuQAARK8KYl0k2KgmT2t3GHQ1bUJe8uhWXEXT28LjYa6_3-CfXbZ79PY4Z4ZOcqvF/s1600-h/e+Light+from+Above.jpg"></a></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTBQE-WBSPPDJc2mXzUJe0u8iXQKub_4Y6N0La9AaPWmj8r0g6hLpdmhp6toMXLryxVOit3UJDmEsZuQAARK8KYl0k2KgmT2t3GHQ1bUJe8uhWXEXT28LjYa6_3-CfXbZ79PY4Z4ZOcqvF/s1600-h/e+Light+from+Above.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199696890239455074" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTBQE-WBSPPDJc2mXzUJe0u8iXQKub_4Y6N0La9AaPWmj8r0g6hLpdmhp6toMXLryxVOit3UJDmEsZuQAARK8KYl0k2KgmT2t3GHQ1bUJe8uhWXEXT28LjYa6_3-CfXbZ79PY4Z4ZOcqvF/s400/e+Light+from+Above.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><p>Next, using some burnt umber with a touch of cad orange, I laid in a quick color for the table top. This is just a base color as I intended to add reflections and highlights later. </p><p>The shadow color for the object - basically a burnt umber had been laid in at the initial start. It's important to get your shadow colors in first. They provide the bones of the painting and you don't want to be changing them later in the game. That is a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">recipe</span> for disaster.<br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhpp4uTMBcIp8DlvB5sHlw__BysRoWCW0dWfdyml_dcN2ceQsVzhN6yJd5zntfanuhQx_ZQWVRJqwyrE4hZPNQPzSTWEE8SpyAvm6TJh1Sb-jlZ7fmsxRG83DLG4xHkV-3gjPEUHgtddA/s1600-h/f+Light+from+Above.jpg"></a></p><br /><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhpp4uTMBcIp8DlvB5sHlw__BysRoWCW0dWfdyml_dcN2ceQsVzhN6yJd5zntfanuhQx_ZQWVRJqwyrE4hZPNQPzSTWEE8SpyAvm6TJh1Sb-jlZ7fmsxRG83DLG4xHkV-3gjPEUHgtddA/s1600-h/f+Light+from+Above.jpg"></a></p><br /><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhpp4uTMBcIp8DlvB5sHlw__BysRoWCW0dWfdyml_dcN2ceQsVzhN6yJd5zntfanuhQx_ZQWVRJqwyrE4hZPNQPzSTWEE8SpyAvm6TJh1Sb-jlZ7fmsxRG83DLG4xHkV-3gjPEUHgtddA/s1600-h/f+Light+from+Above.jpg"></a></p><br /><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhpp4uTMBcIp8DlvB5sHlw__BysRoWCW0dWfdyml_dcN2ceQsVzhN6yJd5zntfanuhQx_ZQWVRJqwyrE4hZPNQPzSTWEE8SpyAvm6TJh1Sb-jlZ7fmsxRG83DLG4xHkV-3gjPEUHgtddA/s1600-h/f+Light+from+Above.jpg"></a></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhpp4uTMBcIp8DlvB5sHlw__BysRoWCW0dWfdyml_dcN2ceQsVzhN6yJd5zntfanuhQx_ZQWVRJqwyrE4hZPNQPzSTWEE8SpyAvm6TJh1Sb-jlZ7fmsxRG83DLG4xHkV-3gjPEUHgtddA/s1600-h/f+Light+from+Above.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199696890239455090" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhpp4uTMBcIp8DlvB5sHlw__BysRoWCW0dWfdyml_dcN2ceQsVzhN6yJd5zntfanuhQx_ZQWVRJqwyrE4hZPNQPzSTWEE8SpyAvm6TJh1Sb-jlZ7fmsxRG83DLG4xHkV-3gjPEUHgtddA/s400/f+Light+from+Above.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Using a mixture of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">naples</span> yellow and white, with background color for shadow, I laid in the vase.<br /><br />I use a medium called <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Maroger</span> which helps to retain brush strokes. I sometimes let this sit on my palette in the freezer so that it's a bit more set up the next day. when I add this to the paint, it creates a stiffer mixture allowing me to sculpt the paint. The paint is thickest where the light is brightest and just before the turning edges of the vase. It's difficult to see in the photo here, but you can see it in the close-ups and in the final shots where I turned out the lights to take the picture.<br /><br /><br />In the picture to the left, I've started to put in the shadows for the roses. I used, again, part of the background color mixed with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">naples</span> yellow/white mixture. A bit of violet was added in places.<br /><br />The strokes laid in here are simple straight slashes made with a 1/2" and 1/4" bright. I'm trying to maintain the character of the roses. I try looking at them peripherally rather than <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">straight</span> on. This allows me to get the impression of the rose and its character rather than having to belabor the individual petals. My goal as a painter is to learn to say more with less. Quite a challenge for a former <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">trompe</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">l'oeil</span> painter.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWqfItxwrrmUwnEBEbryKCaJ2pw8p5daiceoRr2xdWlcLUw40OTzBkZjkTXbPTMVleMxnT7JjvdCD5r2iIEnyYI9qp_lj4W-LVifMk7o4IgaUAIfG7xMYkgY_xr11okbJXiRZ3TIH-6la0/s1600-h/g+Light+from+Above.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199702739984912258" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWqfItxwrrmUwnEBEbryKCaJ2pw8p5daiceoRr2xdWlcLUw40OTzBkZjkTXbPTMVleMxnT7JjvdCD5r2iIEnyYI9qp_lj4W-LVifMk7o4IgaUAIfG7xMYkgY_xr11okbJXiRZ3TIH-6la0/s400/g+Light+from+Above.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Here you can see that I've started to put in the lights. These were mixed with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">naples</span> yellow and white - two mixtures. One light and one darkened with a bit of umber. Notice how light the mixtures look. On my palette they looked quite dark but when laid in next to the shadows the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">contrast</span> in temperatures made them appear very bright. This is the same for the vase which appears quite lit but in reality is composed of darker value mixtures. I used some raw sienna in the lights for the warm centers of the roses.<br /><br /><br />You can see here the built up lights I was referring to above.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh093kNGAgiamXAmS9-cy-GVAmQus4VWeA0Gqp_2SccUtGovJqH0MrnrwhiqZN-75WDRLb4Z0Wav0WdZ9FKhZfdpuKKdynQl8aG0cqusoKxuhSBdx8jJ1Kj8gDiFDrHp7pv3Iwy8IgITdFd/s1600-h/h+Light+from+Above.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199702752869814178" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh093kNGAgiamXAmS9-cy-GVAmQus4VWeA0Gqp_2SccUtGovJqH0MrnrwhiqZN-75WDRLb4Z0Wav0WdZ9FKhZfdpuKKdynQl8aG0cqusoKxuhSBdx8jJ1Kj8gDiFDrHp7pv3Iwy8IgITdFd/s400/h+Light+from+Above.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I'm finishing off the flowers here. Check out the pictures below to get a better idea of the details. They look a bit washed out by the overhead light here.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKjB79mmybBr2uHqPDTXsK8ZaBf0NnqcU84TnUPLBnTesCWobPqbe6NDb01IR3-Tf8D5iSQsHYBz7Z87go0KO5YD-D3EDbeyZ6m1zDIH-LxoJ7eFq6QJ4INatHJty4dqPAOR_LSZQ4sx2A/s1600-h/J+Light+from+Above.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEUHWX-Rk9_0GXQd2LC2qXGZMPEt9C28WOQpBQ2Zh6FQxXdz2ryOFtjAtaRhuyvXVuE9S8UVK_iqxREF8gNjBE2qwId3yTlgfE_LRIycqpZt99xH_dXLEVqI1shCGdS1mKoS0_G1pXubTB/s1600-h/i+Light+from+Above.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199702761459748786" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEUHWX-Rk9_0GXQd2LC2qXGZMPEt9C28WOQpBQ2Zh6FQxXdz2ryOFtjAtaRhuyvXVuE9S8UVK_iqxREF8gNjBE2qwId3yTlgfE_LRIycqpZt99xH_dXLEVqI1shCGdS1mKoS0_G1pXubTB/s400/i+Light+from+Above.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKjB79mmybBr2uHqPDTXsK8ZaBf0NnqcU84TnUPLBnTesCWobPqbe6NDb01IR3-Tf8D5iSQsHYBz7Z87go0KO5YD-D3EDbeyZ6m1zDIH-LxoJ7eFq6QJ4INatHJty4dqPAOR_LSZQ4sx2A/s1600-h/J+Light+from+Above.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br />Using mixtures of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">thalo</span> green, cad yellow and cad red to warm the mixture. I cooled areas of the leaves with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">naples</span> yellow and white mixed in with the green mixture.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEUHWX-Rk9_0GXQd2LC2qXGZMPEt9C28WOQpBQ2Zh6FQxXdz2ryOFtjAtaRhuyvXVuE9S8UVK_iqxREF8gNjBE2qwId3yTlgfE_LRIycqpZt99xH_dXLEVqI1shCGdS1mKoS0_G1pXubTB/s1600-h/i+Light+from+Above.jpg"></a><br />I then created a mixture of ultramarine blue tempered with some burnt umber and some <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Maroger</span> to create a glaze. I worked this in the vase to recreate the design. Remember that a design can help to describe the form. I also lengthened the vase which I noticed was too short. This necessitated redrawing some of the fruit to drop it lower on the table.<br /><br />The shadows of the fruit were laid in using some cad yellow, ivory black and cad orange. I used a cool yellow, zinc, to be precise, mixed with white for the sliced lemon. Warm tones were cad yellow medium and cad orange.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEUHWX-Rk9_0GXQd2LC2qXGZMPEt9C28WOQpBQ2Zh6FQxXdz2ryOFtjAtaRhuyvXVuE9S8UVK_iqxREF8gNjBE2qwId3yTlgfE_LRIycqpZt99xH_dXLEVqI1shCGdS1mKoS0_G1pXubTB/s1600-h/i+Light+from+Above.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKjB79mmybBr2uHqPDTXsK8ZaBf0NnqcU84TnUPLBnTesCWobPqbe6NDb01IR3-Tf8D5iSQsHYBz7Z87go0KO5YD-D3EDbeyZ6m1zDIH-LxoJ7eFq6QJ4INatHJty4dqPAOR_LSZQ4sx2A/s1600-h/J+Light+from+Above.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199702765754716098" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKjB79mmybBr2uHqPDTXsK8ZaBf0NnqcU84TnUPLBnTesCWobPqbe6NDb01IR3-Tf8D5iSQsHYBz7Z87go0KO5YD-D3EDbeyZ6m1zDIH-LxoJ7eFq6QJ4INatHJty4dqPAOR_LSZQ4sx2A/s400/J+Light+from+Above.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />I took some of the cad colors and pulled the down into the table top to create reflections.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKjB79mmybBr2uHqPDTXsK8ZaBf0NnqcU84TnUPLBnTesCWobPqbe6NDb01IR3-Tf8D5iSQsHYBz7Z87go0KO5YD-D3EDbeyZ6m1zDIH-LxoJ7eFq6QJ4INatHJty4dqPAOR_LSZQ4sx2A/s1600-h/J+Light+from+Above.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKjB79mmybBr2uHqPDTXsK8ZaBf0NnqcU84TnUPLBnTesCWobPqbe6NDb01IR3-Tf8D5iSQsHYBz7Z87go0KO5YD-D3EDbeyZ6m1zDIH-LxoJ7eFq6QJ4INatHJty4dqPAOR_LSZQ4sx2A/s1600-h/J+Light+from+Above.jpg"></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEUHWX-Rk9_0GXQd2LC2qXGZMPEt9C28WOQpBQ2Zh6FQxXdz2ryOFtjAtaRhuyvXVuE9S8UVK_iqxREF8gNjBE2qwId3yTlgfE_LRIycqpZt99xH_dXLEVqI1shCGdS1mKoS0_G1pXubTB/s1600-h/i+Light+from+Above.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEUHWX-Rk9_0GXQd2LC2qXGZMPEt9C28WOQpBQ2Zh6FQxXdz2ryOFtjAtaRhuyvXVuE9S8UVK_iqxREF8gNjBE2qwId3yTlgfE_LRIycqpZt99xH_dXLEVqI1shCGdS1mKoS0_G1pXubTB/s1600-h/i+Light+from+Above.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTBz-CenZY-qrDZw_gJKpiTTBHGkP0Uc8yIZ54bGhj7v31vuoEIAMTeI0iW_3gwFVIFPZsGxHFMzOhPE47EhE9t7wSDyWUyGbjC5NfiFCHSMNoPW1dGtFYVGPaJh5hdXXEwogEjitaWj2V/s1600-h/A+Light+from+Above.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199696409203117858" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTBz-CenZY-qrDZw_gJKpiTTBHGkP0Uc8yIZ54bGhj7v31vuoEIAMTeI0iW_3gwFVIFPZsGxHFMzOhPE47EhE9t7wSDyWUyGbjC5NfiFCHSMNoPW1dGtFYVGPaJh5hdXXEwogEjitaWj2V/s400/A+Light+from+Above.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEUHWX-Rk9_0GXQd2LC2qXGZMPEt9C28WOQpBQ2Zh6FQxXdz2ryOFtjAtaRhuyvXVuE9S8UVK_iqxREF8gNjBE2qwId3yTlgfE_LRIycqpZt99xH_dXLEVqI1shCGdS1mKoS0_G1pXubTB/s1600-h/i+Light+from+Above.jpg"></a><br />The lights for the lemons were done with cad yellow medium, and zinc yellow mixed with white. I left the lemon on the left in shadow.<br /><br />Putting in the leaves on the right topped off the elements.<br /><br />To finish off, I used a bit of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">quinacradone</span> sienna on the table to create contrast. I further pulled down some of the lights in the vase and used a bit of ultramarine blue and white to create reflected light.<br /><br />After a few tweaks here and there, I declared the painting done and put my name proudly on the bottom.<br /><br />You can see the roses much better here because I turned out the lights for the picture. I'll try to remember to do this again in the future for the other <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">pictures</span>.<br /><br />Phew. It sure takes a long time to write this stuff out. Hope you all got something from it.<br /><br />I'd like to emphasize here how important it is to me that you leave a comment or two on the blog. For one, I'm happy to answer questions so that everyone can learn from them and, second, by posing questions or statements, you invite dialogue from others. This makes the blog more interesting and helps me to know what kinds of things you'd like me to focus on. <br /><br />That's all. See you all in a couple of weeks.<br /><br />To bid, <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290230231045&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123">click here</a>.<br />If you haven't visited my Daily Painting blog, <a href="http://www.susanmartinspar.blogspot.com/">click here.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTBz-CenZY-qrDZw_gJKpiTTBHGkP0Uc8yIZ54bGhj7v31vuoEIAMTeI0iW_3gwFVIFPZsGxHFMzOhPE47EhE9t7wSDyWUyGbjC5NfiFCHSMNoPW1dGtFYVGPaJh5hdXXEwogEjitaWj2V/s1600-h/A+Light+from+Above.jpg"></a>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-34572005557386293232008-05-05T21:33:00.000-07:002008-05-05T21:34:48.056-07:00Seems blogger prempted my entry for today and published before it was finished. The entire lesson is now on line. Check it out.Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-87663195572974216772008-05-05T20:08:00.000-07:002008-05-05T21:33:28.846-07:00How to paint Magnolias and Brass in Oils<div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1qWxcbctn9qpd3alhLoGAbomf8R3Mjw3HBh5ncPeJ_vWQbZ0siMPHZXZLfJG9xxmOkiHLBaboMVw1aPOdygF0kFbaTDJAxAKt8QN8vSHlu5jJWZDzMTvNJX5x4K9idwnwaYIvRnX0fmUs/s1600-h/A+Brass+Pitcher.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197097813811491106" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1qWxcbctn9qpd3alhLoGAbomf8R3Mjw3HBh5ncPeJ_vWQbZ0siMPHZXZLfJG9xxmOkiHLBaboMVw1aPOdygF0kFbaTDJAxAKt8QN8vSHlu5jJWZDzMTvNJX5x4K9idwnwaYIvRnX0fmUs/s400/A+Brass+Pitcher.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div>My apologies for not having published here for the past two weeks. Sometimes the necessities of making a living can really keep me busy - or too tired to do anything. I actually started to prepare for a session a couple of times and found myself 1/2 way through a painting before I remembered to take a picture! Well...here I am and I have a good session for you. </div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><div>Here's the set up. I recently swept into an antique shop and found this beautiful brass pitcher. I'm a sucker for brass and copper. They're both such fun to paint! The set up doesn't look very impressive here but the light in the studio was just perfect when I started to paint. Besides, the rest comes from artistic license and vision. My concept was for the light to pool a the round base of the pitcher and around the first flower. I wanted the rest of the fruit to gradually catch the light and then fade into shadow.</div><br /><br /><div></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQp9W_HKze2JhILYin8A_mpSDrZxzyhtPlo79NGXuoQiXtn5bvBDptBd_ry4-UqPSHoxDMZRpifyw4qkYCb0lSlNA1TsaBs8pl7KMjQRKPda7MnMNY1BO6c28tv9ywWhw8NssdJVLpwN0Z/s1600-h/B+Brass+Pitcher.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197114061672772050" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQp9W_HKze2JhILYin8A_mpSDrZxzyhtPlo79NGXuoQiXtn5bvBDptBd_ry4-UqPSHoxDMZRpifyw4qkYCb0lSlNA1TsaBs8pl7KMjQRKPda7MnMNY1BO6c28tv9ywWhw8NssdJVLpwN0Z/s400/B+Brass+Pitcher.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div>I've recently started working on linen for my larger pieces. I love the stuff. It's a medium grade oil primed linen that comes in a large roll. I ordered it from <a href="http://www.aswexpress.com/">Art Supply Wharehouse</a>. </div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div>I usually paint on boards which I prime myself with gesso or face with canvas. In order to prepare this board, I cut out the linen, primed the board to seal it and then using Golden's Medium Gell, I adhered it to the board and burnished it down with a brayer. A quick imprimatura of burnt umber and cad red and I was ready to paint. I laid in the drawing with raw umber, keeping everything simple. Then I mixed my background color - raw umber, cad yellow and a touch of cobalt blue. The lighter area is mixed with a bit more of naples yellow to lighten it. Next, I brushed in shadows on the table top.</div><br /><div></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv81bMleqmuQ0SSvkNcoQJvLE455iI6EyuLp4y-1TDVEmQDyUVUdYrLSdzfI0Flb_t5R-3MfKDpil2-iiZM96hHShk_j-4eee1NRG9fyttW8Q18jCRnPi4qmI_8iSw7o-3YLztrOXyFpC6/s1600-h/C+Brass+Pitcher.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197100901892976962" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv81bMleqmuQ0SSvkNcoQJvLE455iI6EyuLp4y-1TDVEmQDyUVUdYrLSdzfI0Flb_t5R-3MfKDpil2-iiZM96hHShk_j-4eee1NRG9fyttW8Q18jCRnPi4qmI_8iSw7o-3YLztrOXyFpC6/s400/C+Brass+Pitcher.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>Oops! I got carried away here and totally forgot to take a picture. This easily happens to me and I wised up after this and started setting my timer to remind me to stop and take a picture. The pitcher came together rather quickly. I mixed together some of the background color and some raw sienna. Another mixture a bit lighter with yellow ochre and a third mixture of yellow ochre and cad yellow. I have touches of cad yellow medium which is a sort of orangy yellow also. The highlights were built of cad yellow and white. At this point, the pitcher is in but not completed. I'll save the finishing tuches for later. Oh...black was used in sections around the edges to lose edges against the background and for depth. The black was tempered with umber.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrefUWUs4dMnBOLB9yPbQVddyphvlCnLO6GdmRUSY-wRO8zxb-Drv53eC_R5Xigdsqh-GNVWaYHaQk7nnQdMp-FaSZNId2vnOteirBA_1_xzzsRWM-c-RiwRLtDaer5-3ySJrbcW4pxaYj/s1600-h/D+Brass+Pitcher.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197102216152969554" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrefUWUs4dMnBOLB9yPbQVddyphvlCnLO6GdmRUSY-wRO8zxb-Drv53eC_R5Xigdsqh-GNVWaYHaQk7nnQdMp-FaSZNId2vnOteirBA_1_xzzsRWM-c-RiwRLtDaer5-3ySJrbcW4pxaYj/s400/D+Brass+Pitcher.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>A couple of more tweaks done here to the handle. Highlights with with more of the cad yellow mixture were laid in to the scrolling work. </div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><div>I also lifted out some of the color where the flowers would be. That's one of the things I found strange about linen - how easily wet paint can lift from it. </div><br /><div></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe3s9tDnbQx1HyfS4RtP7da9qydMB1CwZq12Nn77xZKWJDU6yDpL451_ljDSxBiiZuqjJHLR5BPzH18nS99qFdIvPmMyR61pxV8rt86BwB8KovRoJryC4qeqqM_LrDSTC6DKxGFu7vyU3K/s1600-h/E+Brass+Pitcher.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197103779521065314" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe3s9tDnbQx1HyfS4RtP7da9qydMB1CwZq12Nn77xZKWJDU6yDpL451_ljDSxBiiZuqjJHLR5BPzH18nS99qFdIvPmMyR61pxV8rt86BwB8KovRoJryC4qeqqM_LrDSTC6DKxGFu7vyU3K/s400/E+Brass+Pitcher.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div>I had to keep turning the easel around to take it out of the glare of the window, so I apologize for the strange angle of the canvas in these shots. Here I've laid in the shadow color of the lemons. I used some background color modified with cad yellow medium and cad orange to create the warm shadow color. The tough thing to remember about painting shadow color is that the thing to do is not necessarily try to match the color of the shadow, but the relationship of the color to the list side as well as the other colors around it. That's a trickey thing to do right. Once you understand this, however, you will understand that paint is not light or the object you are trying to represent. It has it's own qualities and laws. Understanding them is crucial to getting your objects to come to life. </div><br /><br /><div></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPa_A14q5rEm5Od8mWaZoi1dR2OV4rR4fcjsWFetsc0ZxIIwm-4WVB09lA5qIL3NN4n1IUFRsTDCP4g35FPGi4R_mN-eoNLAJb_B7f7_NJXJ-35pvOOACHEGcNfNuKafulGpsR-QniIX2H/s1600-h/J+Brass+Pitcher.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197107000746537362" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPa_A14q5rEm5Od8mWaZoi1dR2OV4rR4fcjsWFetsc0ZxIIwm-4WVB09lA5qIL3NN4n1IUFRsTDCP4g35FPGi4R_mN-eoNLAJb_B7f7_NJXJ-35pvOOACHEGcNfNuKafulGpsR-QniIX2H/s400/J+Brass+Pitcher.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>Next I made a mixture from cobalt blue, cad orange and naples yellow for the shadow color of the blossoms. I also mixed in a bit of cad yellow for areas where light was shining through the petals. I laid this in carefully wherever there were petals that were showing in shadow.</div><br /><br /><div></div><div></div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivATpNHKuVjzMhiPyf8BxEGJtaVA4y6iCHESk4s-jZ11tVvM0vbhKXl4TAuQJDOz_uF6Q0hYDJgLKsrnFlqivJ1WfMJpIHfP-Qbvg3KsF9lWMiJz2ZjjFFkcAn_Gz2-08s0FyPxZ-Sa1jT/s1600-h/K+Brass+Pitcher.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197107979999080866" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivATpNHKuVjzMhiPyf8BxEGJtaVA4y6iCHESk4s-jZ11tVvM0vbhKXl4TAuQJDOz_uF6Q0hYDJgLKsrnFlqivJ1WfMJpIHfP-Qbvg3KsF9lWMiJz2ZjjFFkcAn_Gz2-08s0FyPxZ-Sa1jT/s400/K+Brass+Pitcher.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><br /><div></div><div></div><div>A mixture of naples yellow and white made up my petals. I also made up a separate mixture a bit lighter for brighter highlights. I laid the petals in carefully - taking my time here to keep each petal separate. It's allright to let the bottom levels blurr into each other. This creates a soft admosphere. But on the upper petals, if you want the flower to be recognizeable, you need to keep each petal distinct from it's neighbor. Don't belabor the petals. Paint them with a large brush and pay attention to their character. Load your brush with generous paint. The underblooms should be painted thinly while the uper ones should have body. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-YwW14bSYnQHs_ylFI6anPktXst17uZMFRPXf5Fdrlk16V2FcZl4shioZfLceIgaJQeC64Q-phKLbOCQuCdrAzI5a8Ra0hxCdgSNmd2HYgxD0UcE0b_z9uk6Az-zCZZ76EUU1Zm5WjlOq/s1600-h/L+Brass+Pitcher.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197110398065668530" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-YwW14bSYnQHs_ylFI6anPktXst17uZMFRPXf5Fdrlk16V2FcZl4shioZfLceIgaJQeC64Q-phKLbOCQuCdrAzI5a8Ra0hxCdgSNmd2HYgxD0UcE0b_z9uk6Az-zCZZ76EUU1Zm5WjlOq/s400/L+Brass+Pitcher.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>Once the blossoms were in, I laid in the center of the flowers with touches of burnt umber and cad orange. The pollen laden stamen were just tiny bits of naples yellow. </div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><div></div><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7x8MZtMURaGytgKFWwnPDgj_qdTfeOJfV6n-yywuD9eqUawaldzoOdql6sR_9i4NAQabRuZApupMXttUJ6L4KWIu_wIIdYSasfwMU7457TaB-UvBZDDCmM6ag_A210w7GhV6hbxr0pc_D/s1600-h/The+Brass+Pitcher+Detail.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197113310053495234" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7x8MZtMURaGytgKFWwnPDgj_qdTfeOJfV6n-yywuD9eqUawaldzoOdql6sR_9i4NAQabRuZApupMXttUJ6L4KWIu_wIIdYSasfwMU7457TaB-UvBZDDCmM6ag_A210w7GhV6hbxr0pc_D/s400/The+Brass+Pitcher+Detail.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /></div><div>Here's a closeup of one of the blooms with it's col<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicSix0FR0nt4cbYftlFRvCj_mwomRjFeThBLrZ-Uj5VGGKV-Hjam1SKQbXvDjgJfCDQBNH2B2-DSGwLIY4CZSpvH3hwoFyVfRaNbNytGxPRnNxNk7JGRDwSD08xt1LzGojanFU2Vij5OWw/s1600-h/Lemon+Close+Up.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197115178364269026" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicSix0FR0nt4cbYftlFRvCj_mwomRjFeThBLrZ-Uj5VGGKV-Hjam1SKQbXvDjgJfCDQBNH2B2-DSGwLIY4CZSpvH3hwoFyVfRaNbNytGxPRnNxNk7JGRDwSD08xt1LzGojanFU2Vij5OWw/s400/Lemon+Close+Up.jpg" border="0" /></a>ors and all its nuances.</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br /><p></p><br /><p>The lemons were next. Using cad yellow light and cad medium, I laid in the lemons. I watched out here for the warm reflected light in the shadows. It's lovely ahd can really help to set off the cool yellow.</p><br /><p>I wasn't happy here with the strokes on the lemon. I soon found that if the paint wasn't laid in thickly, I'd be picking up paint already laid in. I intend to go over these tomorrow to correct stroke direction and refine the cast shadows a bit.</p><br /><p>The last step was to put in the reflections on the table top and to lay in a few leaves and stems. Colors already on the palette were used here and nothing special in the way of mixtures was used. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLMtHFKhkTR3d-s60478Sy9wqEleVav20-1FgHiasAvlFYUPpTz4OvsFjxb7xpujlzBZOlnEqAIpdcLIXc2IvPK1SbY7pQ9hk50I94zhwDknfsvPXId5sZdyt7LIXblqF38Czr1ZxWYnKX/s1600-h/The+Brass+Pitcher.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197116651538051570" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLMtHFKhkTR3d-s60478Sy9wqEleVav20-1FgHiasAvlFYUPpTz4OvsFjxb7xpujlzBZOlnEqAIpdcLIXc2IvPK1SbY7pQ9hk50I94zhwDknfsvPXId5sZdyt7LIXblqF38Czr1ZxWYnKX/s400/The+Brass+Pitcher.jpg" border="0" /></a>Tomorrow I may rework the lemons a bit but for now the piece is finished and on EBay.</p><p>Feel free to leave comments on this blog. I welcome questions and will try to answer them as best as I can.</p>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-47228552687386501662008-04-12T14:46:00.000-07:002008-04-12T19:16:28.230-07:00Oil Painting Lesson on Glazing for Roses and Fruit, 14" x 18"<div><div><div><div>Day Two: I got into the studio early today excited with the anticipation of finishing my recent painting. Although I enjoy my direct <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ala</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">prima</span> paintings, nothing lights my fire more than bringing a painting up to a polish. Normally, I spend a lot more time on my polished pieces, but either I'm getting faster or I'm getting less "tight" on a lot of things that used to take me days. It's probably something of both as I enjoy a more painterly feel but also like the polished look that that extra session or two gives. OK, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">nuff</span> talk. Except there is one thing. I forgot to add this pic of my cats who had snuggled together for warmth in the studio patiently waiting for dinner yesterday. Rough life.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHGuJFtOysbw7aIRoae2vuT95-5okv94Sx_IqNx8zou36Dv18CcVfs0pc90UeK00g7lCBmCNYJsVPZHWibRCAS-2T8f6wSCFQKFw3soHiPQeZj4rtbnUl7KyK0ww42MqdDv-LNZYvVoubv/s1600-h/Roses+H.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188480318138544626" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHGuJFtOysbw7aIRoae2vuT95-5okv94Sx_IqNx8zou36Dv18CcVfs0pc90UeK00g7lCBmCNYJsVPZHWibRCAS-2T8f6wSCFQKFw3soHiPQeZj4rtbnUl7KyK0ww42MqdDv-LNZYvVoubv/s400/Roses+H.jpg" border="0" /></a><br clear="left"><br /><p>All right. When I got in the studio this morning I tested the painting to see where it was dry and where it might need more time. As I suspected, most of the painting, except for the white vase was dry. White - except for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">underpainting</span> white - has a lot more oil in it and takes significantly more time to dry. No matter, I figured I could still swing a decent glaze on it. Before I began, I oiled out on most of the canvas that was dry with a bit of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Maroger</span> medium.</p><br /><p></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8EEfatrZ9HeOWzHDdyKoe1ZrZUqgGOPwcGaGC8dr4YZW4LNo7d9cGyieRkvfzoD9D7Y1pzfV-nEMA9fKhpM45gchp3kCgxSj6TJTo_oc_Is0G6C88ujhr5YLJaZ_9qb2B0BTvvqhyphenhyphenTiH7/s1600-h/I+Roses.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188481499254551042" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8EEfatrZ9HeOWzHDdyKoe1ZrZUqgGOPwcGaGC8dr4YZW4LNo7d9cGyieRkvfzoD9D7Y1pzfV-nEMA9fKhpM45gchp3kCgxSj6TJTo_oc_Is0G6C88ujhr5YLJaZ_9qb2B0BTvvqhyphenhyphenTiH7/s400/I+Roses.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><p>As you remember, I had intended to darken the background a bit and so first thing I mixed a glaze composed of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">thalo</span> green, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">alazarin</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">crimsen</span> and a touch of raw umber. I laid this in with a very large soft sable brush. I mainly stayed on the edges of the painting. My intent was to bring out the light in the center of the piece and around the flowers. </p><br /><p>I like the way this came out. Glazing into a background provides a feel of stained glass. The light hitting the canvas goes through the glaze until it hits the canvas and then bounces back. If you use pure glaze (which I haven't) from the start, the effect is quite dramatic. It bears saying here that if you intend to do your entire painting by building up all transparent glazes, then you need to make your <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">underpainting</span> nearly perfect and about three keys lighter than the actual values you want to achieve. The reason for this is because the multiple glazes will darken the image significantly as you proceed. I like to use a combination of opaque paint and glazes. If done correctly, this can still be quite dramatic.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi485Fct3HZwji-lPtcHrZRzjjLIellur-derVtbCfuzB-HmrZCAlYMFarIV349Ihdae8BMalJMop5goyGZEC7cXmVFeAKlMtIuaUfJFINx6LYggEN2dhgcr6iNjAKmffrgJ_8dPsswf_es/s1600-h/J+Roses.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188483775587217938" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi485Fct3HZwji-lPtcHrZRzjjLIellur-derVtbCfuzB-HmrZCAlYMFarIV349Ihdae8BMalJMop5goyGZEC7cXmVFeAKlMtIuaUfJFINx6LYggEN2dhgcr6iNjAKmffrgJ_8dPsswf_es/s400/J+Roses.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />My next step was to work on the fruit. Using the same combination of cad red light, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">alazarin</span> crimson and cad yellow with varying degrees of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">naples</span> yellow, I built up the color tops of the plums. </p><br /><p>Then using some <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">quinacradone</span> magenta mixed with the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">alazarin</span> crimson, I created a glaze and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">darkened</span> areas of the fruit where the turning edges where and the shadows. </p><br /><p>I used a little cad red adjusted with the magenta to make some reflected light on the plums. In cool light set-ups, the reflected light on objects is generally warm. The last step was to mix a small amount of the magenta with white and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">scumble</span> this on to create the bluish haze of the plums. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2_YQLLY7M5ulndEioW6XJRxh0fut7PiX8WXqDqzFCAXVsPogNvi4SyT31HkEIBYThq12hNKPu3MyJn4tKLTCoo1EKDOC17dEmyYm-hz5BmMdVV54gzmyzuAo1zcGmoJ9sqToDI-gkcaIi/s1600-h/Summer+Repast+Detail+Two.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188484991062962722" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2_YQLLY7M5ulndEioW6XJRxh0fut7PiX8WXqDqzFCAXVsPogNvi4SyT31HkEIBYThq12hNKPu3MyJn4tKLTCoo1EKDOC17dEmyYm-hz5BmMdVV54gzmyzuAo1zcGmoJ9sqToDI-gkcaIi/s400/Summer+Repast+Detail+Two.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><br /><br /><p>For the grapes I followed much the same steps but used a bit of cad orange to create the transparent color of light passing through the grapes. </p><br /><br /><p>The highlights were the same color as the bluish <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">scumble</span> but with a tad of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">naples</span> to warm and lighten them. After applying them, I took the back of my brush and squiggled it on each highlight.</p><br /><br /><p>The last detail for the grapes were touches of red here and there and then, of course the stems. Just some yellow ochre. I thinned the mixture with some <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">copal</span> painting medium and used a small round for the detail. </p><br /><br /><p>At this point, I lightened the table cloth and brightened the top a bit with a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">scumble</span> of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">naples</span> yellow and white. If you can't get it bright enough on the first day, you usually can on the second. That cloth lit right up. I did the same for the table top, keeping my lights close to the fruit. I also used a bit of glaze in the shadows of burnt umber to darken the cast shadow directly under the fruit.</p><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS-kWnmadsAr8Ndceu0001Db7chIaCgnLkUskYtgU1ybI56_7H6CTb6h4E7g1ZrB4v-rzElVNwizk3Smzv2J4NYP4_mEJ0EIzb0HCK3znFC8woYeSpVLhucDkuL_Hg6DrUtqCkALpguc8Q/s1600-h/Summer+Repast.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188486876553605682" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS-kWnmadsAr8Ndceu0001Db7chIaCgnLkUskYtgU1ybI56_7H6CTb6h4E7g1ZrB4v-rzElVNwizk3Smzv2J4NYP4_mEJ0EIzb0HCK3znFC8woYeSpVLhucDkuL_Hg6DrUtqCkALpguc8Q/s400/Summer+Repast.jpg" border="0" /></a> </p></div><br /><p></p><br /><p>Now I turned my attention to the pot. I mixed a glaze of ultramarine blue and a bit of cobalt. I thinned this out quite a bit with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Maroger</span> and using that same small round sable brush, I laid in the design. Once I was finished with the basic design, I went back in with a liner brush and put in the outlines and details on the design. This didn't take quite as long as you might imagine. Probably the most difficult part was the single line at the top and bottom. I simplified the design overall by skipping another horizontal line that appears on the actual pot. </p></div></div></div><br /><p>Lastly, I put in the reddish leaves you see on in the foliage and then using some darker blue/green glaze, I pushed some leaves back and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">scumbled</span> some into the fore ground. I checked edges to be sure the ones I wanted sharp, were sharp and the rest I softened. At this point I took a cup of coffee, sat back and just visited with the patient for awhile. The last thing I did before signing the piece was to mix another darker glaze for the base of the cloth. I darkened it and then also put in the other side of the cloth behind it. If you take a look at my <a href="http://susanmartinspar.blogspot.com/">daily painting blog</a>, you can get a close up of the flowers. Viola. Done.<br /></p>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949420006810388660.post-2525413169351596862008-04-11T17:29:00.000-07:002008-04-11T18:22:14.171-07:00Painting with a Grisaille Underpainting, Fruit and Flowers with an Asian Vase, 18" x 13" on Canvas PanelI've been wanting to do a larger piece for my blog and today seemed like a good time to start. I've also been wanting to experiment with a black and white <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">grisaille</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">under painting</span>. Normally I would have chosen to do one of these in a lead white <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">under painting</span> oil with a bit of medium to ensure overnight drying. But I was in a bit of a hurry and pressed for time, so I opted for acrylic. Also, as I'm pretty busy with a lot of work these days, I thought it would be interesting to see if I could get similar results.<br /><br />Here's the set up. The light is cool north light from windows on the left. It looks pretty unimpressive here. But wait. That's the fun part.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188149451676813554" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXJpihz9sbQ62gi4YmvNmS4q9Gz_dPaGm5Ao7JAeoGvPlAg4YAAP5NrktwIBaLxud3vVqF_sw6Rx653snz5txG1sjY5IOgkDegLu71vFeOxWm62voTXwzhKJXF0SVeIQCrQQb1j3FrMrLs/s400/A+Roses.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div><p>I broke out the acrylic black and white and pulled started in.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlu6t6fsWXHbBCSfhDfdGZ62XDdmsOv0OOsxPBCZd_71ws6h-BRP66dUoDw9p81iYl54_g_h0AMtbvxTyuVbn9t3w3buzh3hGVwLjGVYbhRCUz_M6MdkL9Fz45ay3ozB84ResMLiWhIwtO/s1600-h/B+Roses.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188153467471235330" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlu6t6fsWXHbBCSfhDfdGZ62XDdmsOv0OOsxPBCZd_71ws6h-BRP66dUoDw9p81iYl54_g_h0AMtbvxTyuVbn9t3w3buzh3hGVwLjGVYbhRCUz_M6MdkL9Fz45ay3ozB84ResMLiWhIwtO/s400/B+Roses.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />As you can see, I just indicated in my initial sketch where everything but the flowers would be. Detail wasn't important here. One of the reasons I was eager to try acrylic is the short drying time. I felt it would allow me to get in my values and still rearrange things as I pleased without making mud or having to wait a couple of days for things to dry before I tried again.</p><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><p>I was correct and this was the part I really enjoyed. I was better able to visualize my concept as it evolved and make changes quickly.</p><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOOMmWCbGdSGGzgf1n_jItjii2gmTxQjhQDnnGKtdy5F_Z2vlIzB0-7ySILzx3zDjYrJmcHuPlaCeCjCOMnmUXSpkGuPfW3scoVz-AZKkB_DzJJpy6WbN2jETm1KCChlBaU3tEtKdBs5b1/s1600-h/C+Roses.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188154566982863122" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOOMmWCbGdSGGzgf1n_jItjii2gmTxQjhQDnnGKtdy5F_Z2vlIzB0-7ySILzx3zDjYrJmcHuPlaCeCjCOMnmUXSpkGuPfW3scoVz-AZKkB_DzJJpy6WbN2jETm1KCChlBaU3tEtKdBs5b1/s400/C+Roses.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><p>Here on the left, I've all but finished the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">under painting</span>. One thing I enjoyed about this process was the ability to play with brush strokes and immediately be able to correct them. It was like making a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">road map</span> for the painting. </p><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><p>At this point, I was pretty satisfied with the values and moved on. Just a note here...the vase is a bit off and I corrected that before moving on and applying paint. </p></div><div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMaiukGQIJmEInX2OURn0aAKn-Kv_goxRnedFZ0P5n-p90kazO6-oXW3VV1s8rDv83CPdVKO3y7_xDreS71Io2uXzw8FfuxMeYcfgV7dwJD4epa700Nyus03DVdCVEQ2850elp6284k0aU/s1600-h/D+Roses.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188155297127303458" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMaiukGQIJmEInX2OURn0aAKn-Kv_goxRnedFZ0P5n-p90kazO6-oXW3VV1s8rDv83CPdVKO3y7_xDreS71Io2uXzw8FfuxMeYcfgV7dwJD4epa700Nyus03DVdCVEQ2850elp6284k0aU/s400/D+Roses.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><p></p><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><p>I struggled for awhile in deciding what color I wanted to use for the background and decided that a cool green would be nice. It would work well with the roses and the red fruit.</p><div>I mixed some <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">thalo</span> green, raw umber and a touch of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">thalo</span> blue to cool a bit to the blue side. Naples yellow and white lightened the mixture where needed. I apologize for the glare here. The window was to my back and my easel was set up a bit <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">perpendicular</span> to the set up. It didn't look glaring to me, but the camera picked it up. </div><div></div><div>I could tell my values were correct by squinting down. I spend a lot of time squinting at my canvases and this is because it allows me to see values. If the color and the gray background show no contrast when I do this, then I know I've hit it correctly. I used some of the background color and placed it on the vase about where the core shadow would fall.</div><div><br /><br /></div><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXh7eSVQuSU3nuNTgnl4lURYf-cJZ4j6aM4O8jgxK0cec_Zs4amOEIVSHmutY0FwHbNjgQ3Rel468a-ZBLdRKMsAbaYOjVXeKw8txM5d6SvqNJfchABZuwdMPKO3sFKzZfdUYi3VE98U6o/s1600-h/E+Roses.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188156834725595458" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXh7eSVQuSU3nuNTgnl4lURYf-cJZ4j6aM4O8jgxK0cec_Zs4amOEIVSHmutY0FwHbNjgQ3Rel468a-ZBLdRKMsAbaYOjVXeKw8txM5d6SvqNJfchABZuwdMPKO3sFKzZfdUYi3VE98U6o/s400/E+Roses.jpg" border="0" /></a><br clear="left">Next I painted the first coat for the vase. I used some of the background color and a mixture of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">naples</span> yellow and white for the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">midtone</span> and then a straight mixture of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">naples</span> and white for the lights. I used a pretty heavy application of paint and a healthy dose of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Maroger</span> medium here too. I wanted the paint to set up quickly so that I could continue to come back to it and add more paint and glaze if necessary. <div><br /></div><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2IPaoMOYMfzgRIgLahIWLzKX2BhOw7LVKCTPcemcWuBmbvyrKMAp3iqpw0L24pGSihHGFyhjoMrX3JTv1T_T6OZOXtBzOotXCXkeJf7vCEsGrsRTU5CrUHnrN76s1DbbJ2_RnQF3z0eRh/s1600-h/F+Roses.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188157792503302482" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2IPaoMOYMfzgRIgLahIWLzKX2BhOw7LVKCTPcemcWuBmbvyrKMAp3iqpw0L24pGSihHGFyhjoMrX3JTv1T_T6OZOXtBzOotXCXkeJf7vCEsGrsRTU5CrUHnrN76s1DbbJ2_RnQF3z0eRh/s400/F+Roses.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><br clear="left"><br /><p>Now for the fun part. I took some <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Maroger</span> and mixed it up with some <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">alazarin</span> crimson to make a glaze and laid this into the plums. <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Whoa</span>! I love glazing. All that light stuff you see? It's primarily glaze over a monochromatic <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">under painting</span>. Nice huh? The grapes too. I've made a mixture for the cloth here as well. I used white, umber and a touch of the crimson to make a warm shadow and pushed that into the base of the cloth. I lit the top side of the table. This is actually the reverse of what shows on my set up. This is because I have two windows and the one over my left shoulder sheds light onto the front of the set up. I have to compensate for this by painting the front darker at times then it would normally appear. </p><br /><p>Using a similar mixture of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">naples</span> and white, I started laying in the flowers. I wanted to do this before the background completely dries and it would be difficult for me to create the atmosphere that I strive for on a dry background. </p><p>OK. I figured out at this point that glare was becoming a problem in the photos so I moved the easel away from the window to shoot this picture. Here you can see that I've started to put in quite a bit of detail. I added dark leaves to the background to make them fade into the background.</p><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihu-B7QpTIHLMg-Cp5JJxwioaYVg4lwmrODU2yJsuYK_oi9hSfa-PecadGyMn5BTIP851OcNkZet-iP7a0MuwSWx7WVrJZmoRx0DbcrtKscdMG3NnyI5YZSXYZ3AtFeS-zU1wIQiGZIwg7/s1600-h/Roses+G.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188159622159370594" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihu-B7QpTIHLMg-Cp5JJxwioaYVg4lwmrODU2yJsuYK_oi9hSfa-PecadGyMn5BTIP851OcNkZet-iP7a0MuwSWx7WVrJZmoRx0DbcrtKscdMG3NnyI5YZSXYZ3AtFeS-zU1wIQiGZIwg7/s400/Roses+G.jpg" border="0" /></a></p></div><p>I've also taken a small mixture of cad orange, cad red light and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">naples</span> yellow to make a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">orangy</span> pink mixture for the top of the plums.</p><p>More dark foliage in the back of the fruit. I've painted some leaves in the fore ground and put in their shadows. </p><p>Additionally, I've enhanced the vase and put in some shadow under the rim. The table top is lit a bit more and I've darkened the background in the corners. </p><p>Some of the petals on the f<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">lowers</span> were enhanced with a little yellow ochre and white. </p><p>I'm leaving the rest for tomorrow as I need the vase to dry before adding the glaze. Same for the fruit which needs a lot more work. Remember plums have a nice blue/white haze to them. I'll add more detail to the leaves, pushing some to the back and pulling some forward. I also intend to glaze into the background bring a bit more heightened interest to the center of the painting. So far I'm liking the progress. More tomorrow.<br /></p>Susan Martin Sparhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05084379619279293914noreply@blogger.com5