Oranges & Tea Cup with Blue Leaves

I re painted bit of this later got rid of the blue bit at the back put more shadow under the floating half orange left. But this photo reproduces better so left it. Might be something in that?

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Albums: Workshop 7

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Comment by Ann Turner on March 21, 2012 at 17:48: The slices of orange are yummy ! They have a juicy glow that makes me want to reach out and take a bite.

Comment by peter mcknight on March 21, 2012 at 15:29: Great effort Justine. It is so exciting to look at your painting after reading ritchards comments. We have so much to learn about all the small things that make such a big difference. This is my first entry and I have learnt so much already. Keep up the good work.

cheers

Peter McKnight

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on March 21, 2012 at 14:59: Justine, congratulations on your fine work. Richard picked out a real winner to critique. Stu

Comment by Richard Robinson on March 21, 2012 at 14:48: Here are some thoughts for you:

Design

Justine I like your design and arrangement of colours - quite similar to my own setup so I guess I'm biased there. It's got plenty to interest the eye and keep it moving around the canvas. I would perhaps have given a tad more room on the left of the big orange and maybe a teaspoon in the cup leaning to the left would help with that empty area there.

Colour

Your colour is very rich and vibrant - a joy to look at, made more so by the contrast with the gray background. You have lightened the reflected light in many of the shadow areas more than what is natural which does add to the vibrant colour as a whole but tends to flatten the form as it confuses the distinction between shadow and light areas. If you want to avoid that just be sure to squint down on those shadows and compare the areas of strong reflected light with the surrounding shadow areas. Areas of reflected light still belong to the shadow family and should not be as light as the same object in the light.

Nice to see the warm/cool variations in the cloth although there too the form is a little confused due to incorrect value relationships. The orange in the teacup is a little overstated and detracts from the form, as do the sharp edges within the face of the cup. You've really just got to look at the major colours and shapes that are happening, get those right and then add subtler variations.

Brushwork

A lot of your brushwork is bold and beautifully done - laid down once and left there. I can see you're battling like I am to paint the big shapes in a simple fashion but then add some fine detail to hold the whole painting together. I can only encourage you to keep going because you're well on your way there. The next thing to consider might be the possible relationship between thin washes and thick impasto brushwork. I think there's real beauty to be found there. You could also afford to loose some edges here and there in the shadows and glowing parts.

Realism

You're very close to some crisp realism here, especially in that orange on the left - beautiful! It's mainly just the incorrect values that are letting you down and the drawing could be a bit better too. Getting there, getting there! I haven't mentioned the light blue marks in the background as you said you have now painted over those, which is good. You've got a bit of glare happening on the left of this photo so just be aware of that when you're taking your next shot. Try to get a large dark background behind you (like an open garage). Great work Justine - keep it up!