This painting was for our first homework assignment. I learned my lesson from Color & Design, where I almost killed myself by picking overly complex designs. I kept this one simple and concentrated on painting it well. (These objects were from my charcoal still-life from the summer, so I was very familiar with them.)I think it turned out well. It didn't take me very long - only about 4 hours. Part of that is I actually don't know how to finish a painting yet. And I did run into some interesting problems with handling the paint. In particular I am starting to use more generous amounts of paint, but once it exceeded the grain of the canvas, the workability changed quite a bit. The paint started to move around more, and blending was more of an adventure. But these are things that I need to learn.
My professor, Sheldon, really liked it, although for some reason he didn't like my grapes. :) I think he was expecting this huge mass of grapes, but the one that I had picked was pretty sparse.
5 comments:
I actually liked the grapes best - I think you captured the translucency well. Altho' the canvas looks a bit empty coz the middle part is not occupied. Was that intentional?
The empty area echoes the emptiness of the artist, a void which can only be filled by eating the apples and the grapes. Haha, just kidding. :)
We're not supposed to center our compositions because it's too static. I think you've heard of the rule-of-thirds, where objects placed at the 1/3 point has the strongest impact? In still lifes, though, this can look a bit contrived, and our prof admitted as much. And some things you have to center, for example a group portrait.
I really like your apples. the color and light/darkness combinations are great. the reflection turns out perfect. I kind of agree with your teacher on the grapes. It would be more balanced if the grapes are bigger. But as it is, I like it.
I was thinking to myself how you may have eaten some of the grapes. ;) And laughed when I read your comment.
I actually like the wooden bowl containing the grapes the best. I like the wood grain on the bowl. The bowl deserves some recognition.
Thanks PQ! I also consider the wooden bowl an important element. You can see it in my original charcoal still-life here:
http://ryansblog3.blogspot.com/2007/07/hw-2-still-life.html
It's less accurate in the painting, but I think the colors make it a lot richer. I like trying to reproduce different materials. The next HW assignment will have glass and metal. No flowers yet though!
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