ASSIGNMENT ONE

This assignment, the first of 5, is not submitted for formal assessment. It is for my benefit and that of my tutor so she can get a feel for my work. I’ll be using this assignment to show myself that I can use the new techniques I’ve learnt and perhaps more importantly to prove  I can actually make a half decent painting… hopefully 🙂

The subject, whether a still-life, landscape or interior etc, has been very much left to me, although cautioned not to be too ambitious & also looking for a representational piece. As I’ve been learning about chiaroscuro as well as using light & dark grounds, I obviously wanted to incorporate these new techniques into my painting. Having decided on a still-life, I wanted some strong contrasting colours so I chose lemons and limes in dark mahogany coloured wooden bowl. This composition reminds me of the 80’s somewhat but the idea ticked all the boxes just the same.

I started by making some preliminary sketches of the whole as well as the individual parts but I wasnt getting on very well, the shape of the lemon and its distinctive knobbly top was eluding me. Also the light and dark shadows were not transmitting themselves onto paper in such an obvious way as the image before me. Time to try something different so I moved over to watercolour, a medium I’m much more comfortable with.

Now I felt much more comfortable with the subject and by looking at various, subtly different layouts I was starting to get a feel for the final layout.

I like the shapes formed by the lemons on the left and limes on the right, pleasing to my eye. Also I could use this composition to incorporate some exaggerated depth and perspective.

Now time to think about colours and tones. I wanted a dark wash background for the back wall and a light opaque wash for the table top. The lemons and limes I would leave the ground white to allow for reflection through the yellows & greens. I picked the following colours, or mixes of…

and the last job for day was to get the outline pencilled onto the canvas and the washes in places so they could begin to dry overnight.

50 x 50cm oil on canvas

the colours are high percentage turps solutions as they will dry quickly and I can begin to work on it tomorrow.

22/07/12

29/07/12

I’ve been avoiding this painting all week. Not consciously perhaps, but even so I’ve been finding ‘very’ important things that absolutely must be done before I could get out in to the shed. A whole week has gone by before I’ve pushed myself outside again.

The week hasn’t been wasted though. I recognised my reticence and the reasons behind it so I decided I should do another colour study of the still life. Although I had done several watercolours of the scene, I hadn’t made that initial colour sketch so to gain confidence I decided this would be my first task of the day.

A3 acrylic on pre-prepared acrylic paper

This was supposed to be an acrylic sketch, mapping out colours, highlights, tones etc, but I got very involved in it, loved doing it and it ended up a bit more than a sketch, although not totally a complete picture.

Very surprisingly I began to enjoy and appreciate the quick drying properties of acrylic, let alone the texture I managed to create and maintain through this acrylic paper. Done in 3 hours total.

 Positive points I achieved

• Chiaroscuro technique is demonstrated
• shows texture
• vibrant colours with good depth
• the two outward curves created by the lemons on the left & limes on the right.
• the bowl is insignificant which is as I wanted

Negative points to consider

• light distribution is unequal across this image
• shows light from both sides where originally only light from the left of the image was supposed to be portrayed.
• the fruit infront of the bowl is ‘floating’ and not anchored to the floor

Putting some energy into an acrylic painting gave me the enthusiasm and confidence to continue with the oil version, which is now drying out before I can take another step with it.

I foresee another 2 or 3 stages with this painting, probably each one taking several days between in drying time, so its going to take considerably more time to complete. One VERY big disadvantage to oil paints.

31/07/12

More depth of colour introduced and its starting to look more like a competant painting. However, Im struggling with the greens, the turps/oil content is high or maybe its the drying time of this pigment which seems to be longer than the others Ive used. Also using white for the green of the limes is not going to be an option, I really dont want the opaque look on this fruit. Ive started to introduce it on the front lime in the bowl and its completely wrong so once its dry I’ll put that right. The dark background is now looking extremely flat as it starts to really dry off. Need to think about this, whether to lighten slightly or leave it as is, the final varnish will bring the shine back to the finished piece.

The detail on the fruit, the light/dark shadows etc is proving testing. Without any previous experience, its all an experiment every time I put more paint on to the canvas. The lemons are beginning to look more pleasing but the limes have a long way to go.

Still annoying that the canvas is too big for this image, its also the wrong shape.

03/08/12

Final piece (still to be varnished)…

Oil on canvas, 50x50cm

Huge learning curve, even bigger than the last one. Im not particularly happy with this painting but Ive enjoyed learning from it.

I love the depth & intensity of colour that oils can give but their extended drying time can be a massive disadvantage. Thinking positively their drying time could be an advantage in order to change things before the sections dried, just not sure I’m up to that today.

My limited colour range of oil paints has meant some parts of this painting are better described than others. My lack of colour knowledge has been difficult to work through.

I found I wanted to describe the lemons & limes in a photorealistic manner, not originally planned that way, but I dont have the knowledge/ability to do this…became frustrating.

The light angles changed throughout the painting time, painting at different times of the day, sunny or cloudy, all had an effect on the light on the subject. The confusion shows in the painting and the result is that the lack of light definition.

Battling with transulcent/opaque, wanting the limes not to be opaque but I couldnt get the varying colours from my palette in order to describe them properly. Frustrating.

Very difficult to photograph this painting well, probably because of the large amount of dark areas I think and the reflection off it.

The size and shape of this canvas is wrong for this subject. A smaller oblong shaped canvas would have been better.

Very positive Chiaroscuro effect.