Linda Mann Artist

Now that everything was blocked in, I turned my attention to refining the painting. I began with the ribbon. It can be quite hard first to see and then to mix colors for pale ivory-colored objects. They are very subtle! Are they cool or warm? Do I add raw sienna to white? Or maybe transparent golden ochre or naples yellow? Do I cool the mixture with a blue? Which blue? What color are the shadows? So many questions! I find the best approach is to mix a few options, put some paint down on the canvas and look at it. It’s always clear then if it’s wrong. It’s not always so easy to know how to fix it though!

Below is the ribbon after working on it during my next session. Most of the colors looked very warm to me, even though they were in the shadow of a warm light source. (Shadows of a warm light are typically cool.) There was so much warm light bouncing around in the set-up, though, that the ribbon did look very warm. However, I do have a north window on the right side of this set-up, which lets in some cool daylight. I did this on purpose, because I often like the contrast that a secondary contrasting light source provides. I think that as the painting progresses, I will begin to see some cool tones in the ribbon. Right now, though, that is too subtle for my eyes and brain to pick up. I can always adjust later!

I began to indicate the edges on the grosgrain ribbon. I also darkened the shadows a bit, and added few details on the wood.

Above is how the glass stood at the beginning of my session.

Above, I’ve darkened the top center of the glass and indicated where the main highlight will be. I’ve shown some more of the bright stripes on left side, and put in a few more details on the base. I found it very hard to see what was going on with all of the reflections. I tried not to worry too much about it, and just put down what I could understand, knowing that it’ll get easier as I go! I think that I lost the shape of the ellipse on the rim. It looks too narrow and pointy on the right side. No matter how accurate your drawing is, it’s all too easy to lose it when you start putting down paint. I’ll fix that the next time.

I glazed the green book again, and began painting the brown marks and dings in the wood. I think that most of the values and colors are correct now, so I’ll be able to turn my attention to details.