I took Toms advice to paint more and used it as an opportunity to really focus on light and shade and the effects of shadow within my paintings. Additionally I wanted to explore colour with a reduced pallet and experiment with mixing paint in a variety of tonal ranges. I decided to work these studies in mixed media as I find it helpful when I am drawing out the composition , it allows me to work in layers from coloured pencil , water colour paints , sharpies to a thicker acrylic paint.
Working dark to light and adding a touch of warmth to the left side of the bottle.
Mixing tonal values in a greyscale and judging how light or dark the objects are.
Focusing on the light ,angles and shadow of the apples
Colour mixing in a pastel palette
I am pleased with the results of the three new still life’s paintings created this week , there are elements in all them which have been helpful in understanding painting techniques. The process taught me basic principals of a still life composition, encouraging me to think more in depthly about the importance of form, of harmonious colour grouping and of object placement upon the canvas. I feel they look more confident in their execution.
For the final submission, I am omitting the apple painting as its warmer colour choice clashes with the pink, purple and grey palleted used in the other two. Furthermore, I feel it has an unfinished look about it and the frame contrasts as opposed to complimenting it as occurs with the other pieces. I prefer the subject matter and compositions of the other two pieces and the frame works as a more aesthetically pleasing duo. Next, I will photograph them all with and without the frame and against different backgrounds, before I submit the final outcome.