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]

Well, one of the problems is that the hanging pearls are close to dead center.   Perhaps pushing everything back just a little and having the pearls on the table but going off to the left side might work better.   Also, you need to not have the shell dead center.   I assume that the painting is really about the shell, so having the fabric exit one or more sides of the painting by cropping may help some and angling the table top a bit may help too.  I think the objects go together fairly well.   I would keep the background on the cool side to accentuate the warm colors in the shell.   Just some thoughts.   Stu

[Lori Ippolito]

Thanks Stu..I like the exposure best in that one, but am a bit concerned about the hanging pearls pulling the eye down and out of the painting..this is what I'm struggling with!! I'm trying to learn what makes a good composition!

[Stuart J. Gourlay]

#3 would be my choice. Stu