Oil Painting

Painting 1: Value Study
In this first painting we used only different shades of gray to practice looking at only the shadows. The still life objects were all painted white so that we are not distracted by their actual colors.

Before doing this first painting, we were told to do a charcoal drawing. I had not done any charcoal drawing since pretty much last summer, so it felt like starting over again. But after a couple of sketches, I felt more confident.

When painting, I realized that the charcoal drawing class had really helped. Everything that was taught to us about ignoring the lines or the outlines of objects and really looking at the shadows helped with this painting. I also felt confident with putting paint down because I knew that I can always put more paint down to cover up any mistakes!



Painting 2-1: Cools and Warms
In our second painting, we are working with a limited pallet of only cool and warm tones of gray. This may not look like shades of gray to you, but let me assure you that it is supposed to be. First, creating the pallet took one whole 3 hour class. We started by mixing a "natural" gray. Then we added yellow ocher to create warmer and warmer shades of the gray. On the other side, we added ultramarine blue to create cooler shades. Then working from top of the pallet to the bottom, we added more and more whites to lighten up the shades.

This picture is after one 3-hour session of painting. I began by putting down a thin layer of paint to get an idea as to where all the objects are. After the first painting, I realized that I was still working too hard on creating the edges. I still faltered to drawing lines and filling in with color. This time, I tried to build up contrast areas. Like looking at the dark areas compared to the light areas, and working from the inside of an object outwards. The objects are fuzzy right now, but that's ok because it is an underlayer.


Painting 2-2.
This isn't quite finished yet, but it is close. This one is from Day 3 of this particular painting. I did not take a photo of Day 2, but imagine this one with less paint. During the critique, my teacher, Helen, said that it was a good start, but I needed to lay on more paint. I had been too cautious in applying thin layers of paint. That made the objects look flat and lifeless. It seems that adding more paint makes the objects look more solid. Also, working on the shadowy parts and light parts seem to make the objects look more solid.


In my earlier version I had a hard time with the fabric. I had a hard time painting the creases. In day 3, what I did was use my brush to blot on darker areas where there are creases. Rather than trying to use a thin brush to draw out the creases, I just looked at the fabric intensely and blotted on the dark parts. Then I added the lighter surroundings and blended the colors on the canvas. This helped. What I noticed is that when trying to draw the creases, or draw what creases are supposed to look like, the image starts to look flat.

Another interesting thing I learned is applying color on the flat box areas and the sheet. When looking at an object it may seem that there is one large area of one color. It is tempting to just lay on a big flat area of one color of paint. But that would make it look flat. So I tried to really look at where the light is glaring off of the box or the sheet, and I start to notice that the color changes in different parts of the object. Capturing different colors on one surface of the object seems to create a more realistic look.

The other thing is the edge. Instead of drawing a line to create the edge of the box or the table, I tried to make the shadows meet. For instance, the edge of the table seems to be brighter because the light glares off of it more. That creates what appears to be a light line along the edge of the table. The edge seems to come from one mass of color in contrast with another mass of color, or one shade in contrast to another shade.

A major problem area are the bottles. I have a hard time making them stand up straight! I think my hand is not stable enough and both bottles seem to lean to the left and look a round a wiggly, not like solid glass.

This has been an exciting experience. I love watching my painting take shape. I also love the way oil goes on. So far, I'm liking oil painting much better than acrylic.