Cezanne made it OK

Years ago I bought all fresh fruit and veggies for my still

life paintings, and for my classes. But then I read

that Cezanne used artificial fruit in his work and that

was over a hundred years ago, so I decided to start using

the fake stuff. Over the years, I have found some pretty

remarkable fakes, like this onion.

You couldn't tell, right? You'd try to cut it up for soup,

right? Well even having it right in front of you, you would

be fooled.

If you keep your eyes open you can find some great fakes.

Florist supply places have really good ones.

But I told you that in an earlier post!

Texture close up

It is notoriously difficult to photograph textured surfaces in paintings.

Take Van Gogh's work for example. You see his paintings in art books for years and then you see it on the wall in a museum and are astounded at the thick textured surfaces he

created.

Here I have tried to show the texture up close of the log from my previous post.

I did the texturing twice, letting the first layer dry.

In this close up, you will see that I put the second layer on with out using any paint in it, just applied the Aquapasto with a palette knife.

A way to get texture

This is not intended to be a painting! I did it as a sample of how you can achieve texture with a product called Aquapasto which is a thick version of Liquin. This product used to be called Oleopasto, but maybe Winsor and Newton changed it because it sounds like a food item!

I have put the Aquapasto on my palette and mixed paint into it. It is only on the right side of the log. When you see it up close, the texture adds a lot to the effect of rough bark.

Like Liquin, it dries quickly....overnight.

Here I have painted the first layer of texture with a dark brown.

On an upcoming post you will see that I brush lighter color over the ridges of the paint and then the dark shows behind.

If you click on the photo you can see it enlarged.

This painting example is 11 x 14 and is done with oil paint.

Rogue's Gallery!

When one is learning to draw, cups and boxes and such things

of simple shapes are good items with which to start. But

then one needs to have more challenge with interesting shapes.

I have found that stuffed animals serve this purpose well.

They come in very simple shapes, but then some have limbs

that are jointed, or long flexible limbs that give posing variety

to them. The yellow bear in the middle of this photograph

was a lucky find in a supermarket! He can take all manner of

positions and presents a good challenge for drawing a shape

that breaks the bonds of symmetry! Also, his modeling rates

are very reasonable!

Props for your paintings!

This is a large basket of artificial fruit and

vegetables that I have collected over quite

some time. One year a student gave me a

gift of several pieces that were really well

done. You can see the lemon and orange at

the front (or bottom) of this basket from the

collection he gave me. Some artificial fruits

or veggies are really poorly done, but even

they have their uses -especially for me when

I am teaching basic drawing. But I always

keep my eye out for well done fakes! The

best ones I ever got were from Williamsburg,

Va. They have an enormous place just outside

of town (williamsburgpottery.com) and I found

these things in the flower section. I'll have to

photograph them for you to see. The onions

were especially fantastic!

So keep on the lookout for such things for your

own work. I used to only use real fruit and

veggies for my paintings. Then I read that

Cezanne used fake fruit and so I quit buying

these things!

Composing from your photos

When I see a scene that I would like to paint, I take a long shot of it, then close up shots.

The reason? Because when you photograph a long shot, there are things that are not clearly visible in the photo.

Therefore, taking closer shots of the same subject gives you more visual information.

This was a series of shots from last week when I was down viewing the

glorious cherry blossoms in

Washington, D.C.

There were families and couples everywhere, but these two were in a setting that

worked for my painting purposes!

Testing the colors for a specific palette

Some time ago, I purchased these small

canvas boards. I bought so many of them

they turned out to be 35 cents apiece!

They were going to be for my 4 x 6 inch

daily paintings. But they were not smooth

enough, and even lumpy in places.

So they took on a new life and I have used

them to demonstrate various techniques to

my students.

This is a really good use for them. When

you are going to use a color palette that

you are not familiar with, make a sample

on a small board like this and keep it for

reference as you paint. Mix white with each of

the three primaries to see how they look going

lighter and lighter. Then mix the secondary

colors under them. The last thing to do is

mix the grey these primaries will make, and

add a little white. And then mix the same

primaries to get your brown, also adding a

bit of white.

Why is this important? Well some primary

colors that you might use will not mix the

secondary colors you may be used to getting.

In the above example, because the primary

yellow is lemon yellow, it's paleness will not

get you a powerful green or orange. Having

made such a sample, you won't be in for

a surprise!