Fruit with Pitcher

Cropped to show the part that I like best

 I have started a workshop class at 3Kicks Studio in Pasadena. Here is the first still life set-up that I painted. There was another still life choice and also a live model. I will do those in future weeks.

I got good feedback from the teacher. The challenge, of course, was to paint gray on gray, with very subtle value and temperature differences. He wasn't too impressed with this, but not too critical either. He guided us along, suggesting ways to keep it simple and focus on what was important. Mostly he said to "just keep painting and you'll be able to train your eye..." I feel like my eye is okay, it's my ability to render what my eye sees that is the problem!

Classwork

 

I may still go back and fix up the parts that are weak, or I may just move on and paint something different. I haven't decided yet.

I did two homework paintings of a gray on gray set-up. The teacher liked the set-up with the silver tray, and liked the solid feel of the objects. But the fruit looks flat - not enough light contrast - and the bottle highlights are too much. You can see that I kept this in mind as I finished my painting in class. Nice round fruit and not too much on the bottle. As for the wobbly lines, such as the edge of the plate, that's just me getting used to oil paint. It doesn't stay where you put it! I started with a nice even curve, but by the time I got the shadows in there and added the print to the fabric, the plate was a wobbly mess!

Homework

I will definitely move on in class to the next still life set-up. Enough of the gray on gray.