If you want to make sure something happens over the course of a day… Do it early, before you lose track of time and miss the opportunity.
Today I started painting around 11am and come 2pm, I am all wrapped up painting, full of lunch, have my video and photo editing done, and am writing a post. Very nice!
On Setting Up Composition:
Even though we are two days from Easter Sunday, we are experiencing a blizzard in North Dakota and the ground outside is COVERED in snow. Our apartment is normally dark and relies heavily on artificial lighting, but with all that reflective snow, the natural light is coming in with a noticeable and appreciated presence.
I took advantage today and moved my subject, a naval orange sliced and quartered, to the sliding glass door atop a barstool and cardboard box to get a nice vantage point with dramatic lighting.
I added a warm lamp light as well, you can see it reflected on the edge of the knife and it warmed my subject just a bit, helping the intense oranges to come through.
On Color Mixing:
I’m noticing a theme while working with yellows and oranges. It’s a challenge to mix JUST the right orange and I tend to quickly either dull them down or have them come out too yellow. The highlight on the central orange slice still looks a little too yellow from what I was seeing… But it’s lovely nonetheless.
On the Painting Process:
“Hold your brush by the end, move from your elbow not your wrist, stand far away from your canvas as you paint.” Bits of advice I have picked up from art professors in college and the Plein Air Podcast. I tried it out today and went with looser brush strokes for most of this painting.
To successfully paint an entire piece this way, I will need to hone in even further on my order of events and puzzle piece it together. The highlight on the top left edge of the central orange slice is an example of a mark that did not succeed in creating the type of hard edge I was going for. I’m not sure what order to have put that in… Or maybe I just needed to be a little more calculated and intentional about how I loaded my brush.
On the Results:
Overall, I’m pleased with this painting. I want to work more on the rule of thirds, as that central orange slice would most certainly be more interesting positioned a little further to the left.
The colors are pleasing to my eye as I glance over to the painting now drying on my wall.
Another daily painting, done! I’m a little older, a little wiser.
