Underpainting II

I couldn't paint much today - started very late. But this is the underpainting from yesterday's post with color layers added. It is still in progress, but I put it aside for a while because it was bugging me.

I changed some things from the original after getting feedback from Abby and removed some of the folds in the lower left. Among many things to be done - the background needs to be toned back to a more neutral color and I want to work on the cloth. (Also the drip of paint on the yellow bowl :) ).

It's been at least a month since I've touched it. Here's a pic of what's on my easel now and you can see this still life sitting there in the background waiting for me to finish it. I think I might start working on it again tomorrow. I love 3 day weekends!

One of the greatest things about having a studio is that you can leave things up - like still life setups or paint or whatever - and not worry about it. Can't do that at home.

Tip for those family members (Mum, Dad?) and friends who are new to blogs, etc - you can click on the pictures themselves and they will open in a larger window so you can see them better.

Underpainting

This is an underpainting - I talked about underpaintings in an earlier post. I did this underpainting in acrylic - it is just burnt sienna and white and I tried to capture all the value changes in the color. I don't have a picture of this painting after I started applying color - I guess I forgot. I will try to remember to bring my camera tomorrow.

I took this with my iPhone - not bad for a cell phone :)

Saint Bowling Pin

There's something about this that reminds me of my early (stress early) years as a little Catholic girl who sobbed while watching "The Song of Bernadette" on the afternoon movie. (What was that 70's afternoon movie program in the Boston area that showed all those old movies? I think the guy who used to be Bozo hosted it - Frank Averuch - God where did I pull that name from?) It's like the bowling pins are standing on the mount in some holy light - like when poor little shizophrenic misunderstood Bernadette saw the Virgin Mary at Lourdes. Okaaaaay - maybe not.

Anyway - this is a painting from class in April. Anyone who has taken any drawing or painting classes knows that you get these still lifes (lives??) that are just colored boxes or shapes. The goal is to learn how to handle the values of the shapes. Sometimes everything is one color and sometimes multi-colored.

This exercise was used to teach us about underpainting. Underpainting is when you use just one color and white for the entire painting. It really teaches you how to capture the values of the color, without using color. This is a very traditional method of painting -(think Vermeer). Then, when the underpainting is complete and dry, you lay on the color and the tones of the under painting show through and give you the value changes in the color. It was sort of a revelation for me and I loved the whole exercise.

I tried this myself in my studio and I'll post that one tomorrow. BTW - this is another large painting - maybe 2' x 4' again.