I WILL BE GONE FOR A WEEK...

Due to a death in the family, I will be gone for about a week. I hope to have a new painting up very soon.

COMPLETED SQUASH PAINTING

 

My completed painting! Most of my family won't really like this, but I am excited! The drips are to signify the freshness of my painting, and the discovery of the bright colors and transient subject matter.  As I was finishing up the painting, the squash and apple was rotting, decaying into nothing.  I feel that I was able to catch them at their most colorful and ripest.  I wanted the subjects to almost grow out of the canvas.  I hope that you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it.

BUILDING THE SQUASH

 

I have begun to paint my subjects, using thicker layers of acrylics than yesterday, much less water, adding some acrylic gel medium to get it to glide on the canvas better.  Departing from my usual style of painting ultra realistic, I am trying bigger, broader strokes.  I want it to look realistic, but show more emotion.  I am building up my subject in a way that I call 'sculpting' ...layering the color, glazing with transparent paints for the shadows.  I have started adding a few areas that have thick, textured paint to give some dimension.

I have built up the background with a series of whites...flake white, titanium white, bamboo, and unbleached titanium.  I want to leave the background neutral and capable of letting the subject pop off and OUT of the canvas.  My idea is to create something from nothing...I am creating my own squash out of paint and brush strokes, and I want it to leap out at the observer.

SQUASH WASHES

 

I started putting in my beginning washes today for my squash still life.  I quickly became aware that my paint was acting in a rather unusual way...I had accidentally picked up a water media canvas, used mostly for watercolor!  My acrylic paint was beading up and running instead of gripping the canvas like normal. My washes were staying quite bright, unlike when I normally work a painting, and the color tends to dull and soak into the surface.  How exciting!!! I immediately did a bit of rethinking on what my painting would (or rather, COULD) come out to be.  I have an idea...

PAINTING:STILL LIFE WITH SQUASH

I am starting a new painting.  I decided to put together a still life with a turban squash and a Braeburn apple for sheer bright colors, which I need right now for my sanity.  I have also decided to do something different with the composition.  Keeping with the classic pyramid style, I decided to add balance to the mixture.  It took a bit of doing to get the apple to balance just right on the squash..I finally had to add a bit of tissue paper to get it to set the way I wanted it.

 

I chose a 12X12 canvas to emphasize the balance and composition.  Using willow twig charcoal, I sketched out my drawing before getting ready to paint.