Finished, or abandoned.

Finished....or maybe 'abandoned' is a better word. Whatever it's called, I think I've got as far as I'm going to go with this picture. The board that I was struggling with is better, not great, but ok. Liveable. The dark polished work surface has ended up looking very abstract expressionist...this is largely because going super realist was going to take too long. I kind of like it though.

Fourth bite of the apple

This post is all about the wooden board. It starts off much to big and I've been making it smaller and smaller until it feels right. The last one is ok and definitely nearer than the first but the outline and foreshortening isn't quite right yet.

Third bite of the apple

Another moment grabbed to paint this humble apple and the progress is slllooooowwwww. I've concentrated on building up the colours on the skin of the apple and did a bit more work on the wooden board. Always amazes me how something that appears one colour - the green of the apple in this instance - is actually made up of lots of different colours. A hint of yellow here, a dab of orange there, as well as all the different hues of green. It's only by really looking at something that you start to see all this stuff you didn't notice before - the way the orange of the wood is reflected in the underside of the apple for instance. I'm happy with how the apple's coming along, there's a robustness and solidity there that I like. The shape of the board on the other hand is still a bit crap.

second bite of the apple

I escaped from watching I'm A Celebrity to snatch another five minutes painting. I've started to describe the lighter and darker areas of the apple, as well as adding colour to the wooden board the apple's sat on. Actually, the board looks a bit wonky I'll take a look at that again tomorrow...*sigh*

First bite of the apple

Slow start. I had literally five minutes, about as long as it took for the kettle to boil and a bag of earl grey tea to brew. Just added some green to the apple and started to describe the outline of the small wooden board. At this rate it won't be finished before 2013. Oh well, the tea was good!

Beginning...

...is often very slow. I kind of dislike starting over, so I like to pretend I'm not really doing a new picture, just messing around with some paints. Typically, I'll paint over an old picture I never really cared for, so I've got a blank background to paint on to. Then I'll pick up an object to paint, say an apple, and start working out a rough composition and outline, by which point I'm half way to starting a new picture (without really thinking about it). It's pretty stupid really trying to trick yourself, but by putting zero importance on the result it allows you to just have fun.  

So hopefully this....

 

Will start to resemble this within a few days...

Or maybe it will look more like this...

Satsuma Sessions 3

Fifth day painting. I've added shade around the base of the satsuma to give it a little bit more volume, but most of my attention has gone on adding detail to the red box which the satsuma and wooden board are sat on, as well as painting the wooden table behind.  For half my time painting, I'm not actually painting, I'm just looking at the picture wondering what I think of it...don't rush to tell me it's rubbish, I'm aware of that! The question is how rubbish and are there any non-rubbish bits?

Satsuma sessions 2

Amazingly, I've managed a fourth evening painting! This really cannot last. I only had about twenty minutes so not much change from the previous posting. I've just added more colour and shade to the satsuma - hopefully building more of a sense of volume. I've also started to pull out the red of the coronation street box the wooden board is sitting on.

The satsuma itself has started to get very dry and hard, so I'm now relying on a photograph taken at on the first evening. Anyway, the enjoyment in all this is the doing and the learning, if I end up liking the end result that's a bonus!

Satsuma Sessions

Finding time to paint is the most difficult thing to do when you have a full time job and a family with young children. When you want to paint in oils it seems to be even harder. They take so much time to set up and clear up. 

Anyway, that gives some explanation for why this blog has been sorely neglected for over a year now. This is my pathetic attempt to get back in the saddle and pick up my brushes again. The subject for my first painting is pretty modest (the lack of time also applies to time allowed to think of subject matter). I've only just managed to grab the spare 30 minutes here or there over the last three evenings. Who knows how sustainable this is... 

The subject: A half peeled satsuma on a wooden board.

Here's a photo:

Below is the  first day's attempt and it's pretty sketchy: I drew a rough outline and blocked out some of the main colours. When I looked back at the picture it was fairly obvious that the board the satsuma sat on looked too elongated in the painting and would need adjusting the next day.
Painting day 1

 

The second day I changed the size of the board to make it smaller and wider, more of an oval shape than a rectangular one. I started to add shade and weight to the satsuma and also began to add the white peel. 

Painting day 2

Now on the third day, I'm starting to work on the light and shadows on and around the satsuma, strengthening the colours and contrasts as I go.