Pears can be pretty

Pears can be pretty. I did this in class and it was fun. A red pear on a white plate and I got to be as painterly as I pleased. Although it felt very wasteful to use those great juicy bits of paint.  Preparing canvas as alwayswith a underpainting of siena and then applying pure color. From there it was a matter of just adding those bits of paint that add dimension and depth to my pear.

I have done so much!

I have done so much this semester in painting. Love learning all the bag of tricks that will give my painting interest. Have started a still life that I am in love with already. Purple witches hat and drape with brass goblet and crystal ball and candle. I am having a lovely time.

She is Becoming MoreHuman

As the colors become more like one would expect for people, my painting is more and more 'real'. Although like the velveteen rabbit, I ask, what is 'real'?

 I have learned how to paint veils and it was a revelation. Less is more in this instance and I spent several hours painting little bits of nothing. Using cad orange and cerulean blue I lightly brushed on with one brush and smoothed with another.

Yesterday was magical

Having a siena undercoat, we began applying color and to do this we USED NO MINERAL SPIRITS. It was hard not to.  for the flesh we used alizarin crimson, ochre, cerulean blue, touch of cad red, cad orange and  just touch of white. When we applied it looked PURPLE. It was odd.
Then we used a lighter version of the original and applied it to the in between tones. From there we worked on the eyes and lips. For the lips i used a bit more red and cad orange with white. Her eyes are blue so i used a dark greyed blue with lighter at the edges. We worked on the hair only as it was close to the face. It was so fun to see her become a flesh and blood person. I can't wait to see what magic Margee

 pull out of her hat on Tuesday.

Victory!

It took forever to get this lovely lady to her destination. But I was victorious. We worked on the eyes and hair and shadows and learned more about two brushes vs one.It was wonderful. Three hours go too quickly.  I learned how to emphasize b painting around things and that painting is not drawing.  We continue with siena and we developed our background a bit more. There is a little Cornwall in mine I think.

The new project goes forth

This is the finale of my foray into still lifes. I was sad to see it finished.
     On Thursday we began our copy of a mjor work.  We are each copying a Pre-raphealite and we began by blocking in the shadows on the face with burnt siena. That took the WHOLE class time. it was harder than one would think to block in a face. This is an area that is the breadth of one's hand! Had a blast.