I thought I'd show a demo of doing today's painting because as many of you know I'm always changing and "mixing up" the way I do things. Always trying to improve what I do, trying to make it better, not always succeeding. Here is what I've been doing of late.
#1. I put a layer of #6 grey acrylic on my canvas, over top of the gesso. This fills in the texture of the canvas and gives me a middle tone to work values on. Then I lightly pencil in a grid of 2" squares . This grid coresponds to the view finder that I use. I make one out of black cardboard and put a heavy black quilting thread on the thirds. I move the view finder around to block out all the unnecessary noise around the area. I try to see it as a finished painting. When satisfied with the composition I quickly sketch in the objects. This takes about 5-10 minutes depending on the complexity of the layout.
#2. I start blocking some light values to show form and contrast and some middle tones. The sensitive colors and/or sometimes the colors that set the mood of the painting. I mean really, lets get to the excitement!
#3. On this painting, the bowl had a definite black edge and made such a strong graphic shape in the painting that I wanted to block it in to get the shapes going.
#4. I decided to paint in the green and the grey beaters because they are the focus of the piece. At this point I feel that I'm almost done! What an illusion!
#5. Here you see that I've painted in the mixer middle color values and started painting in the background because the colors that are next to one another affect one another. As many of you know from your color theory studies.
#6. After covering the canvas I go back and tweak the color values where needed and add a few highlights.
#7. When I feel that I'm through I sign the painting and then I'm really done. Except wait! I left off the highlights on the beaters. (you will see where I put them in the actual painting that I posted) Whew! There is 2 hours out of my day.
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