Richard's Spotlight Effect-Glaze Study

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Comment by Roena King on September 13, 2010 at 11:18

Joy, thank you again for more thougthts. I did take in all the suggestions and attempted to fix/change the egg painting for the better.////////// I have spent the day making blocks to start the exercises in the color course of Richards. I have totally lost interest in the egg pic and am ready to move on.....color.......fun! hehe //// Ro

Comment by Joy Longmore on September 13, 2010 at 10:58

Hi Roena. Had a long weekend away. I said I would get back to you and reading all the help you have had I don't want to add any more except to say that Edith is quite right in saying put more darks in the shadow and it will bring out the lights. I can still hear my former teacher saying "get your darks in" (forgot about that when I said about the "dings") but keep on keeping on.......very envious of you living in a RV - something I sometimes dream of doing around Australia........maybe one day........ Joy

Comment by Roena King on September 13, 2010 at 3:13

Edith (and Peni) You are so kind to have spend that much time typing all that up!!!! I understand your thoughts and instructions. I am fixing to start the exercises in Richard's Color course which I believe will aid me in SEEING so that I will notice more of what your are speaking about. (direct light, reflected light and body colour) I was helping a friend start oil painting so I did the egg. I "want to be a landscape artist". It is so easy to get sidetracked away from your goal. I dont care to do the egg again (perhaps I will later-the wind can blow and I can change my mind in a heart beat). If I should do something again I think I should do your and Yelena's idea of a real life setup and not from a photo. After Richard's color exercises I should be much better at the seeing -- hope, hope. LOL Ro

Comment by Roena King on September 13, 2010 at 3:01

Yelena (I am answering Yelena here about Paynes book because I know how every one reads the comments below), When you look for Paynes book look for a new one as it is back in print now. You should be able to find something for $50 USA or less. Composition of Outdoor Painting by Edgar Payne ISBN 0-939370-11-5 (2005 Seventh Edition) The types of compositions taught are 1. The Steelyard 2. The Balance Scale 3. The O or Circle 4. The S or compound curve 5. The Pyramid or Triangle 6. The Cross 7. The Radiating or Converging Line 8. The Ell or Rectangular 9. The Suspended Steelyard 10. The Tjree Spot 11. The Group Mass 12 The Diagonal line. 13. The Tunnel or Tunnel-Like 14 The Silhouette 15. The Pattern. It is an excellent book and came recomended by two professional artist that I found on the internet. Ro

Comment by Peni Baker on September 13, 2010 at 2:01

I think Edith's idea is a good one and can't wait to see the new finished product.

Comment by Edith McClelland AEA UWA WCSI on September 12, 2010 at 21:51

OK RO.... I promised to get back to you on this...... there is no 'right' or 'wrong' way to paint so don't just think in these terms. Yes, there are rules [such as 'fat over lean'] which make sense in practice but don't just think you either have it 'right' or 'wrong'. When I talked about 'gradation' I am essentially talking about perspective - in another way, as you probably know, when we look at a scene or an object, depending upon the depth of field, it appears to 'fade' off into the distance. In a still life, such as your egg study, the depth of field is obviously much shorter [or closer] than a landscape . However, we must take perspective into account for everything we look at. So, if you look at [squint at] your reference photo again, you will notice that the lower right and upper left shadow areas are quite similar in tone, while the upper right corner is marginally darker. The cloth around the egg is a mix of direct light, reflected light and body colour. I have always found that my students don't actually 'look' at their subject before they start painting so we do a little exercise at the start of each new course - I set up a still life with say an apple and an orange and ask them to paint [with no direction or comment from me]. Once they have finished, we look at the work and, when we finish an exercise in 'how to really look', I ask them to paint the same still life again. The difference is amazing and all because they had actually painted what they 'saw' rather than what they 'thought they had seen'. In your egg study, you have painted a much wider depth of field than is actually there [i.e. the deepest darks which you have included are not actually in the reference photo]. I would ask you to spend 15 minutes just looking and analysing your reference photo again, then paint another egg study, without looking at your first painting. Look for direct light, reflected light, body shadow and body colour and how they all relate to each other and to the egg - - then paint what you really see and post the finished piece here. I'll bet you will be amazed at the difference! If nothing else, this is a fun exercise to do .... happy painting Ro!

Comment by Yelena Akhumova on September 12, 2010 at 17:13

Hi, Ro! I have to find Payne's book to take a look. I went through dozens of books about watercolor painting and finally found what I liked and followed. Honestly I could not find anything helpful on oil painting, that's how I ended up with Richard R. lessons. I love how he works and how he teaches. You're right you want to paint like him. I'd also like to work different then I do it now LOL!

Comment by Gail Runciman-Nicholls on September 12, 2010 at 12:38

Hi Ro,
Not being an oil painter, I don't understand the quirks of the medium; but I too, see that your darks are not deep enough(especially in right foreground corner), and the lineal shadow down the egg could be a couple of tonal values deeper.
I set the photo & your painting side by side on the computer screen to see & compare. Over all I think you have done quite well. :-)) Gail

Comment by Roena King on September 12, 2010 at 2:00

No problem Yelena cause I dont like it either! LOL I would never had picked such a photo had I not been helping my German friend start oils. I will look at artpapa, and thanks for that place to learn more about glazing. I have no training and have really not seen anything on "proper" still life composition. I only know the rule fo 3rds to apply to stilllife. I did get a wonderful book for Christmas last year by Edgar Payne on The Composition of Outdoor Painting. Before I bought the book I checked him out. He was a famous California artist who is also known for his use of color. His art sells for $300,000 to $500,000++. My focus now is to apply the composition types and color to my art. What a task! LOL Thanks again for the comment I really do appreciate it ! Ro

Comment by Yelena Akhumova on September 11, 2010 at 17:26

www.artpapa.com , here is the website, (I actually do not like his paintings, sorry), where the artist shows glazing techniques, for still life it's nice to use some of his suggestions.
You did a great job with this painting, but it's too complicated even to draw fabric, that's why I would not start with such difficult composition. When you deal with fabric and folds it's very important to find the "border" between light and shadows and to have the whole composition with the folds, otherwise when you get them from imagination, you loose the interest. Sorry for my clumsy attempt..
From my experience I know, you start from something, like bigger painting or difficult object, then you get back to simpler task and get the result faster and better. Then you can move forward..
Even if you do a small size study, like this one, it's necessary to check on composition, because as I see here it looks like the picture divided vertically in halves: right side is interesting and strong, but the leftside is kind of dull..
I'm really sorry for my mistakes!!!!! You asked..... do not be sorry, ha-ha

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