Still Life Demo
September 12, 2009
The Setup
Here is the still life demo I promised in last week’s post. It’s meant to illustrate the development of form using the “Five Types of Light“. The subject matter is a martini glass, a Spanish olive and a ca. 1936 penguin shaped cocktail shaker by Napier. I borrowed the shaker, with permission, from a friend’s cottage on Mexico Beach, Fl. I love it’s interesting shape and art deco charm. I’m giving myself the added challenge of subordinating the larger and more unusual penguin to the olive. I’ll let you be the judge of how well I accomplish that objective.
line drawing
My ground is lead primed linen #LLD-DP, from New York Central Art Supply. It’s my first time using it. I’ll let you know how I like it at the end of the post. I toned the linen with a cool green of viridian, quinacquidone red (Vasari’s ruby rose, actually) and a touch of a tubed gray (Vasari’s adobe). I chose a cool green because there will be lot of warmth in the background and table top. I draw with the brush in an alizarin like gray that I mix from a tube gray (Vasari’s shale), ruby rose and ultramarine blue. I like this color for drawing because it relates well to the way I see dark accents. Key issues at this stage are placement, good proportions and variety in the negative shapes. I made a simple line drawing in the interest of accuracy.
massing in of shadows
Using the paint like charcoal I state the dark accents (such as underneath the wings) and mass in shadows. Some of the lights and reflected lights are indicated by pulling out with a paper towel. My concern at this stage is establishing good value relationships. Notice that the “terminator” line is well established. I like the fact that the painting already has the feel of glass and metal.
initial color statement
I move out of the monochrome stage and into color by working shadows. (Note that I am not completing the penguin then moving to the glass. I am quite literally working all of the shadows, on all of the objects, including both form shadows and cast shadows. ) There is a concerted effort not to change the values established in the previous stage. Except for the reflection of the table into the penguin which was entirely too light. This step is first estimates. All colors are subject to refinement as my familiarity with the subject grows. I am using natural light from a north facing window which means “cool light and warm shadows”. The terminator line is on the purple side of blue but moving to the right the metal is picking up a lot of cool reflected light. I also indicated some of the warm gray tone in the background. Notice I did not paint the whole background. I only wanted to get some of the tone up there because it plays a part in the color relationships. Often times students will paint the whole background first as if they are painting a wall. They are compelled to completely cover the canvas. I think by doing so the background plays too dominant a role. Without realizing it they end up painting the subject to the background instead of the background to the subject. This is a consequence of a mindset which paints objects rather than relationships in the context of the Five Types of Light.
Further Development-Midtones
Here I have moved out of the shadows and begun to paint midtones. This is evidenced by the cool grays on the left side of the terminator. Remember that by definition midtone is the darkest part of the light and is most noticeable between the shadow (terminator line) and the the light. Midtone is where we see most of the local color. Also significant at this point is that all of the objects are at a similar stage of development. That is because I am painting the Five Types of Light in a sequence rather than painting objects individually. Student painters often want to complete one object before moving on to the next. When we do that we sacrifice unity and harmony in our work.
During this and the previous stage I began to pay attention to edges. The new canvas seems great for the initial fusing of hard and soft edges. The paint seems to do exactly what I want it to do.
I have also done some under-painting, in preparation for glazing on the front of the scratched up wooden box which serves as a table.
Adding the lights!
By now I hope you have realized that I am working in sequence from dark to light. I started with dark accents, then shadows, reflected lights and midtones. Finally I start on the lights. Notice the lights on the glass, olive and head are developing.
I avoided all detail until now because it is more important to establish form (ie, the Five Types of Light) than it is to model details. With the form well established I can now suggest details like a dent and an eye. I have also glazed over the table front with a black mixed from a tubed gray (Vasari’s Shale), Ruby Rose and Paynes Gray. Using a palette knife I scratched into the black letting the warm color underneath show through.
As I have done with each stage I asses the overall painting. Satisfied with the developing sense of form, space and light I decide that my first estimates are good and I start the sequence over again.
Second trip through.
I recognized that the shadow side of the penguin had gotten a little too light and a little to cool. Working through the painting in sequence from shadow to light again I made that adjustment. I also further developed some of the details like the reflection of the glass in the shadow side of the shaker, the dent and the eye. I added other reflected lights as I noticed them (upper right) and began to push color intensity everywhere. In the spirit of Winston Churchill’s statement, “there is strength in reserve” I usually start with neutral color only to “push it” later. I becomes a matter of seeing just how much the painting will bear. Notice how pink the background has gotten and how orange the reflection of the table has become.
And guess what, I still haven’t entirely covered the canvas. I wonder if I will ever get to that.
Another pass through!
Believe it or not, I went back through the painting again from dark accents, to shadows, then reflected lights, midtones, and lights. This time I started to add light accents, also known as highlights. In terms of shape, values, colors and edges the Five Types of Light are all working well. The tactile senses of the objects’, glass and metal, are well stated. After neutralizing some of the pink in the background I set the painting aside for a couple of days.
Vuala! Spanish Olive with Snowbird!
Returning to the picture with fresh eyes I decided that there was an edge at the lower left of the penguin that wasn’t sharp enough so I started there. That edge led to another, then another and another. I went through the whole painting working transitions and edges. There was far less looking at the subject than in all of the previous stages. I made changes based more on what I knew and less on what I saw. I finessed color temperature and intensity in the background until I was satisfied and then place that color (not value but color) into the midtones. By painting background color into your midtones you impart a sense of airiness to the painting.
Before bringing this, longer than usual, post to a close I want to touch on a few things:
First, I want to dispel any thoughts that what I have done here is demonstrate a formula. What I have demonstrated is a sequence or procedure which is based on actual observation. Painting formulas are not based on observation. They are based on a set rules. The Five Types of Light are not rules they are words in a visual language meant to help us organize what we see when we “look” at our subject.
Second, I love the new linen. The paint does exactly what I want it to do. It stays where I put it unless I want to move it. I look forward to using it again.
And third, feel free to use the comment section to ask questions or let me know whether I accomplished my objective of subordinating the penguin to the olive. Thanks for hanging in there this long. Next time we will segway into landscape painting.
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THANKS ROBERT, I GOT SO MUCH OUT OF THIS DEMO. YOU’VE INSPIRED ME TO TAKE ANOTHER WHACK AT A DOING A STILL LIFE.