still life : color layer days 1 & 2..finally!!!!!

[Lori Ippolito]

After a several week break - waiting for the dead layer to dry completely, then caught up at work & home with obligations..finally getting back to my painting:)  

I started the color layer last night and went back in tonight to continue working on the pearls and ribbon.  I'm undecided about what to do with the table color..thinking I may leave it neutral grays..any thoughts are most welcome!

this is the third pass at the dead layer - one more to go in order to establish detail in the shell - this round focused primarily on the pearls and foreground..got the basic lights and darks of the shell - need to go back in for the little nuances.

I started painting the dead layer (gray layer) and have the background and ribbon blocked in..next step will be to paint the rest - shell, table & hanging ribbon is approximately 5 values of gray

tonight I painted the umber layer using burnt umber oil paint and a medium of OMS, damar varnish, linsedd oil & a drop of lavender oil.  I wiped out the highlighted areas but will need to pay careful attention to the pearls since I was unable to get the lightest lights on the front row as white as I wanted. I hope I can make the ribbon transparent in the background!

I'm working out a set up for a still life I'd like to paint and have three possibilities:

and finally

9/29:

After several days of working on setting up the still life, I settled on composition #2 that has the ribbon dancing around the shell in a circular fashion, similar to that of the conch shell's concentric circular pattern. (thanks Michael S)

I transferred the drawing onto a primed 8x10 ampersand smooth gesso board and reinforced the drawing with waterproof ink.  I held the support at eye level with two screws

I've printed a photo of the still life in grayscale to assist with the dead layer, and in full color for later layers. i'm planning to paint this in the indirect method of the old masters..my next step will be to establish values and the basis of form, first in an umber layer, then in a dead layer (using black to white value scale)

The set up remains in the light box to the left of my easel and I have used a color checker to assist in determining that the studio light matches the light on the setup. From fiddling with the setup, the ribbon has shifted a bit, so I will use the pattern in the photo, still observing the ribbons play of light and shadow in the light box.

Stay tuned for step 2 & please comment if you care to!

[Stuart J. Gourlay]

Lori, use the transform tool in Photoshop to us skew photos. Nice work. Maybe a cooler gray for the table would pop you warm grays in the shell and pearls?

[Lori Ippolito]

Thank you Jon..I did a little more tweaking and am trying to get a crisp photo to post..Everytime I try to crop the edges are all out of whack!!! Back to the drawing board for new phots that I hope will be straighter!!!!

[Jon Main]

Looking very nice!

[Lori Ippolito]

Thanks so much Fay!! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

[Fay Thomson]

This is going to be an amazing painting Lori.

[Lori Ippolito]

Thanks Jon! I love Sadie Valeri's work..in fact I was inspired by her waxed paper & shell!! Thought I'd try changing it up a bit with the ribbon.

[Jon Main]

Good luck Lori - well done for getting right in there. It reminds me of Sadie Valieri!  Don't put pressure on yourself - the experience itself will certainly be extremely fruitful

[Lori Ippolito]

True!!! I will set the timer on my IPAD! Good idea Stu!! Was busy making curtains for Marisa (my daughter) all day so I was only able to do a little last night..I adjusted values and was able to rub out highlights a bit more using turps.

[Stuart J. Gourlay]

You need an alarm clock to remind you to step back.

[Lori Ippolito]

Very true Stu! I taped up a sign..step back and look.. On my easel..only problem is I get so in the zone I never look at it!!! Lol...