I thought it would be interesting to see how the painting has progressed in the last few weeks. Below, I’ve just begun to put down the first layer of color. I’m not being super-detailed yet. I’m just putting in local colors and getting the values closer to being correct.
Below, I painted the blue wall that’s in the shadow. I made it lighter than it will ultimately be so that I can glaze over it later. I’m doing this now so that it will have time to thoroughly dry before glazing. It’ll take at least a week.
Below, I finished covering the underpainting with local colors, except for the top of the vase. I couldn’t do it because I had no place dry to rest my hand. It’s inconvenient, but I never got used to using a mahl stick (a rod that you rest on the top of the canvas to support the painting hand).
Below, I’ve glazed the shadows on the tabletop and front.
Finally, below, I’ve painted a glaze onto the backwall shadow. It’s still not quite dark enough, but until I work more on the adjacent areas, it’s hard to judge. It’s easy to add another glaze, and impossible to take one away! The glaze caught on the brushstrokes, making it look streaky. This often happens when you glaze over a very light area. I stippled it with a shaving brush to even it out. This back wall area is going to get a lot more attention soon.
I refined the stones on the left on top of the box, thinking more about value, color, edges and details. I put another glaze on the green glass bowl and the shadow side of the vase. I began to study the details of the vase, painting the patterns more carefully, and adjusting colors and values. At my next painting session, I’ll try to get the value of the shadows finalized, and dive into the details of the vase.
Linda Mann Artist 