still life exercises with palette knives

I have been trying to use only knives for painting for the past few days. Didn't spend much time on each one but I did enjoy the process.

I feel that I am still trying to use knives to achieve the same effects that brushes would achieve. Exercise more, and I shall become freer with knives.

(may 18) still life painting #15: glazing and final critique

notes to be added.

(may 11) still life painting #14: flower bouquet

notes to be added.

(may 4) still life painting #13: flower

to be added.

still life painting #12: interior

notes to be added.

still life assignment #3: still life with reflective metal

a few details to fix.

still life painting #11: low key

missed #10: high key.

haven't been painting for a while. wasn't proud of the homework that i rushed yesterday. thank goodness it's just in progress work. final version due next week.

had fun with the low key set up.

struggled with metal colors in the morning. adam came to help. made me realize the importance of cad. orange and burnt umber. went to the store across street to get my own tube of cad. orange right after the class.

still life painting #9: field trip

quick 2-object study.

homework critique.

afternoon field trip.

john pence gallery.

hang gallery.

scott richards contemporary art.

dolby chadwick gallery.

like jeremy mann's work a lot.

still life painting #8: patterned objects II

March 30.

Patterned object again. This time it's multi-colored.

it was all good until I started to paint the pattern. From there the painting just got out of control.

Well, for one thing, I should have painted the vase bigger.

still life painting #7: patterned objects

finish the base layer before going into the pattern.

draw the pattern with calligraphic strokes. don't smooth out.

first show opening on march 10

still life painting #6: highly reflective metal

reflections of objects (on the metal) should be darker.

still life painting assignment: 3 objects

not much of a success. things i did wrong:

1. used a preprimed cheap linen without adding a few coats of gesso.

2. used a bright red cloth as background and dark violet as tabletop.

3. at the block in stage, started with shadows that're not dark enough in value.

still life painting #5: colored glass and folds

the folds were frustrating, as i spent most of the day working on them. the fruits? done in the very last couple of minutes. and i started to like the piece, despite its incompleteness, as soon as the fruits were painted in. i guess all the efforts in the folds are just lengthy warm-up for the true colors.

still life painting #4: Clear Glass

In Class: painting clear glass with TW, IB, VR, YO, CYL, UB, AC

Using today's leftover paints, I quickly painted a little study after I got home.

still life painting #3: in-class

Ivory black, titanium white, yellow ochre, terre rosa, plus cad. yellow light.

Painting grapes is really a tedious job...

One thing I learned today is that at the block-in stage, I should use a bit more turp (instead of mostly galkyd lite) to make the surface less slippery for the rendering stage.

Took the painting home. Let's see if I can finish it at home.

still life assignment #2 so far

2 pieces of fruits with indian red and yellow ochre.

still life painting #2: limited palette 5-value rendering

5-value rendering with venetian red, yellow ochre, titanium white and ivory black.

From Adam's handout: 5 stages of the painting process:

1. linear drawing (cartoon). With small brush, use burnt umber (liquin or galkyd) to draw object contour lines, core shadow and cast shadow lines, taking care of proportions, ellipises, and symmetry.
2. 2-tone light/shadow pattern. use burnt umber (liquin or galkyd) to fill in all shadow shapes on the objects and table top surface (if background is dark, fill it in also).
3. color block-in stage. start with background and shadow shapes. then move on to the midtones and lights. it can be helpful to locate the darkest shape. it's better to paint sth. too dark than too light at first. work from dark to light, thin to thick.
4. 5-value rendering. brighten light-lights and highlights. add reflected light and color into the shadow areas. restate core shadow if needed. it can be helpful to work on one object at a time.
5. 9-value rendering. smooth form shadow transitions. add brightest and darkest accents.

today's life drawings

I'm pretty happy with this 20 mins drawing.

The model's name is Deanna. Below conveys more of her facial features, although I only spent a couple minutes on the face towards the end of the 40 mins drawing. I only photographed this part because I did a poor job with the legs.
If I had more time, I would probably refine it a bit more towards sth. like this:

What makes the "finished" feeling? I suppose at least shadow accent, consistent texture, and complete contour line will make a big difference.

photoshop is fun

with yesterday's leftover gray paint I played a little.

i'm so bad at painting from imagination. but anyway, it's fun. spontaneous enough, but i need sth. else to make it more interesting. so i played with the image in photoshop, and came up with this:

inspirational, isn't it.

Monday means work!

Did a little unpacking for my studio which was long overdue. And then rearranged my studio so that I can paint still life. Now I am ready to do my still life homework assignment.

This is the test painting I did in the afternoon:D

Maybe I'll use it to practice glazing later.

first class.

We started with simple forms and black/white today. Adam is nice and knowledgeable. I cannot wait to learn from him.

Note: remember to clear the space around the easel before start painting next time (so that i won't get paints onto other people's clothes...)

a new year. a new blog.

My still life painting class at the Academy of Art University is about to begin. It is time to start a new blog dedicated to documenting my journey in the world of painting. This is meant to record all the little tiny things that may only make sense to myself, such as, never to buy those paints in can again as I just spent the entire morning trying to empty the titanium white from a can.