acorn squash 8x10

I did the under-painting for this a couple of days ago and I finished it up this morning. It was a nice way to divide up the labor and unlike some of the things I paint, the subject didn't change appreciably over time.
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martini #7 6x8

This one is a commission for a friend at school. She is giving it to her mother for Christmas.
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halved avocado 10x8

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lemon with persimmon 8x10

Wow. Two paintings in two days. That's kind of rare for me lately!
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crayon goblet 10x8

This one took a couple of days.
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lemon screwdriver 8x10

I was asked by a couple of people why I decided to paint these two objects together. They thought there must be some story behind it. I just did it because they're both yellow.
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red wrench 8x10

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leaf with pear 8x10

pumpkin with mirror ball 8x10

I might try this again with a different background and lighting.

eggplant and pumpkin 8x10

Here's some autumn bounty from the school garden.

Crayolas #6 6x8

I did this one for a friend of mine. I had set everything up on my stage and was getting my palette prepped When I noticed that my crayons were liquefying. I guess they didn't like the new halogen lamp I was using! Luckily I have lots of crayons. I cleaned my glass and put a new batch in it. I had to move the light farther away and I had to turn it off periodically even then. It was worth it though. I like the warmer more intense light.
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hammer and screwdriver 8x10

Here's the finished painting. I finished the block of wood that the tools are sitting on and made a few more small adjustments to the hammer and screwdriver. You can click on the image to get a larger view. There are probably thousands of ways to approach a painting. This is just how I decided to tackle this one. Sometimes I start blocking in the background much sooner and then work back and forth between the still life and the space surrounding it.
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hammer and screwdriver 8x10

A couple of visitors to this blog have asked to see how I go about making a painting. So here it goes...
I generally start with a loose monochromatic under-painting. I typically use transparent red oxide or some other warm earth tone. In this case I've used the red oxide and some ultramarine blue because the hammer has some very dark parts to it. I did not use this combo on the screwdriver because I want the color of the handle to be a lot cleaner. I'm trying to achieve that translucent look by allowing the light to bounce off the white ground of my painting through the paint without an under-painting to muddy it up. This isn't a factor with the hammer. the dark under-painting adds weight to it and will hopefully help it feel more solid and heavy.

Once I get the basic shapes of the objects blocked in I start to work back and forth between them. I'm adjusting the values and tightening up the drawing a bit. I'm still using a pretty big brush, a #6 flat in this case. I use a bristle bright for the under-painting and sable blend flat when I start working on top of that. The softer hairs don't lift the paint off the under-painting as much as a bristle would.

Once I get the objects pretty well established I begin blocking in the background and adding the cast shadow. During this stage I continue to work on the hammer and the screwdriver. I'm trying to keep the figure-ground relationship believable. I'm also continuing to refine the drawing as I paint the background around the objects.

At this point I've pretty much got the entire background blocked in with the cast shadows and the light that's refracting through the screwdriver's plastic handle. I'm not really trying to smooth this out or make it look too finished. I'm trying for a broader, more painterly solution. I also don't want to over paint the background because I don't want obliterate the warm under-painting. I've also added some surface detail to the rubber handle of the hammer. Now all I need to do to finish up is to paint the block of wood the arrangement is sitting on. The dark under-painting will be the darkest part of the block. Most of the wood will be much lighter. I'll post the finished picture tomorrow.

water and eggplant 10x8

I haven't had much time to paint lately. I'm trying to remedy that.

strawberry bowl 11x14

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the chips are down 12x9

Even though these recent paintings are still relatively small at 12x9, they are taking quite a bit longer to finish. I'm still painting just about every day. I'm just not able to finish one a day.

martini olives 12x9

This painting took me a few days to complete. I as pretty busy with other things this eek so I didn't really have any large chunks of time to devote to it. I had originally planned on taking several pictures of it to document the painting process. Unfortunately, after taking the initial picture of the beginning layout I misplaced my camera so all I have are a before and after with none of the hopped for in between shots.

I typically start my paintings by blocking the composition in with a warm neutral tone. In this case it's transparent red oxide mixed ith a little bit of turps.

two peaches with water 12x9

It's fun doing these slightly larger still-lifes. I like being able to give them a little more breathing room.

spilled crayons 10x8

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martini and five queens 8x10

I don't typically drink these but, with the right vodka, sometimes they hit the spot.
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