It’s been a while!
Thankfully, the lack of posts doesn’t equate at a 1:1 ratio to a lack of paintings. I’ve been skipping the posting to make more time for painting. I’ve also been oil painting closer to once per week while I have some big mural projects going this summer. Yay for hospitable summer weather here in North Dakota!
I’ve got some of my favorite paintings hung above my kitchen sink and they continue to inspire and confound me when I look at them. They have that special… Je ne sais quoi. I love it. Today’s was inspired by the orange and spoon painting I’ve been eyeing in my kitchen.
I took my time setting up the composition just right with a viewfinder. When that was right, probably after around 45 minutes of fiddling with oranges, spoons, and lighting, I set off with a fresh palette. My drawing was extra precise as it related to MY CANVAS. Not my viewfinder. I wanted to make sure I avoided my dreaded final piece where somehow, my focal point ends up in the center space. NOT THIS TIME.
It worked to set my composition up on the canvas first to what came through my viewfinder. I’m pleased with this composition!
The lighting took a bit of fiddling with as well when I painted. I ended up going back a day later (the day I’m writing this post) and putting in a spot of light across the orange slice being hit with the spotlight at its base. The insight to how much this improved the composition came when I had my photograph set up in photoshop and I decided to try it out in there. It was much prettier so I hopped back to the kitchen for a few minutes and added in some spots of paint without my subject to look at. It felt great to go in with fresh eyes… I might do this again sometime!
The one complaint I have is that I sense a lack of freshness. I think the brush strokes got a little complicated and overthought. I did a lot of work with small brushes. It’s okay though, we’re learning over here!
Are you interested in buying this painting? Let me know!