On November 4, I wrote that I was deciding between two different objects in the back, right of my painting. I could have a matt vase or a glass bowl. I’ve now repainted my black-and-white study to incorporate the glass bowl. Here are the alternatives as value studies:
What to paint? Sometimes, I sail right into a painting, knowing just what I want to do. Maybe I saw an object I wanted to paint, maybe I had an idea for a good composition, maybe the light inspired me. Other times, like now, I get stuck. I have some ideas for the kinds of things I want in the painting, but I can’t find anything in my collection that fits the bill. I was picturing a lush grouping of sumptuous fabrics and rich looking bowls, golds and velvets, with warm, rich colors. Perhaps I’m just tired of my things and need to go shopping. After 14 years of setting up still lifes, I end up using the same things over and over again. Usually, I don’t find this a problem. If I can find the right composition, the objects take on a life of their own within the setup, and don’t look ordinary any more. I do think, however, that it’s time to add some bowls, boxes, pitchers, cloths, etc. to my prop shelves. My first stop will be the antique stores.
Here are some new props I just bought: a wine-carrying box, some interesting containers and a tray. What I like about them is their large masses, warm colors, simple shapes and rich textures.
My goal is always initially to paint things as they appear. This is crucial if I’m to achieve the effect and illusion of reality. Without reality, my paintings have no soul or immediacy, and wouldn’t evoke a feeling of recognition in the viewer of “Ah! This is the world as it should be!” Working this way takes careful observation and is sometimes frustratingly difficult. I try to observe the exact color of light and of shadow, the darkness or lightness of objects, and they way their edges appear. For example, I’ve usually painted soft edges on a sphere because the edge is just apparent: In reality, the sphere just keeps curving away. A crisp edge implies a sharp plane change on the object. A cube, for instance, would be painted with sharp edges. Of course, if the cube is in shadow, all of its form would appear to be muted, including it’s sharp edges. However, there are times when I choose to ignore reality in order to improve my composition. As important as detailed observation is, I must never loose sight of my ultimate goal, which is a beautiful painting. For instance, if a sharp-edged object isn’t my focal point, I might paint it in a softer way so as not to draw attention to it, since the eye is attracted to sharp edges. Similarly, there might be a strong value contrast between two objects in a setup. The eye is also drawn to this. If I want to draw attention away from that area of the painting, I might choose to mute the contrast. In almost every painting I do, I blatantly eliminate or add effects not seen in the setup, for composition’s sake. I have noticed, however, that if I veer too much from the natural appearance of things, the painting suffers. If I can lead the viewer’s eye where I want it to go, and deliver the goods on that, then the areas outside the focal point can be manipulated without destroying the effect of reality. It’s trickier to change the appearance of the focal point- that has to look real! So, I must know not just how an object appears, but how best to represent it according to my purpose.
Click here for a blow-up of Greek Vase and Onions
In the painting above, the round parts of the onions are painted with soft edges while the stems are painted with hard edges, as is the top edge of the metal bowl.
I’m debating which layout is more dramatic and better expresses how I see this painting. Should there be a (harmonious) matt, ribbed, clay pot behind the white garlic? Or should it be a (contrasting) shiny, class bowl?
Which is better?
After staring at my black-and-white study for a few days, I decided to make some changes:
1. Make the whole painting longer, adding ½ “ to the bottom
2. Reduce the width of the smaller pot
3. Lighten the value of the onion
4. Lighten the table, horizontal and vertical surface
5. Put the big pot more in shadow
6. Add more reflected lights from garlic (on table, pot, and onion) to bring more focus to it
7. Repaint shallot to correct values and change shape of its shadow
I realize that most of these changes make the study look more like the Polaroid. I had noticed that I wasn’t as happy with the study as I thought I should be. Making it more like my original vision makes it better. So, in this case, my first idea was better. That’s not always the case!
I’m contemplating one more change. Maybe I’ll try replacing the small pot with something else. Perhaps something of the same scale, but with a shiny, reflective surface. I’ll try it is reality, in the studio, before I bother to change my study.
Here is the setup with a glass bowl instead of the second pot.
I sure am taking my time with starting this painting! That’s intentional. I realize that sometimes in the past, I was so eager to start painting, that I wasn’t critical enough of my compositions. This, obviously, resulted in some paintings that I was unsatisfied with. My method of working doesn’t allow for major last-minute changes, so I need to be pretty sure of myself before I start. Of course, I make lots of changes along the way, darkening, lightening, highlighting, muting, adding or taking away color, all to improve the image, but these can be done without major repainting of the large forms. I like to be sure before I begin to put paint down.
Now that this stage is nearly done, I feel, in a sense, like I’ve already finished the hard part. Now, all I have to do is paint it!
Studio and Close-up of still life setup
I’m starting a new painting. Having selected the objects and played-around with a lot of arrangements until I found one I like, the next step is to take some Polaroids to check the values and manipulate the framing of the painting. The Polaroid image loses all the subtle details, so I can use it to check that the arrangement of the major lights and darks is correct. I can also adjust my cropping of the image at this stage. Notice that I’ve chosen to add more room for the vertical surface at the bottom of the painting.
Polaroid
Next I create a careful, full-size line drawing and overlay that with tracing paper on which I paint a value (black-and-white) study. I cannot post the line drawing today because it is covered by tracing paper and wet paint now, but I have a similar drawing from an earlier painting here: Vase and Squash.
Value study
I’ve already made some subtle changes between the actual objects and the way they will appear in the painting. For example, I’ve made the background pot darker and also darkened the onion and changed the shape of its stem. I want the stem to echo the other curves in the painting and to lead a viewers eye to the squash on its left. At this stage, I like the composition and the light, but I still don’t know if it will be good enough to make a final painting of.
I’m nearly finished with a painting I’ve tentatively titled "Globe and Glass Globe." Now I’m at the stage of having to look at it carefully, after having set it aside for a week, and checking that nothing jumps out at me as a wrong shape, a wrong tone or just not reflecting well enough my original vision.
Linda Mann Artist 