"Autumn Colors" (oil on linen; 8" x 6") sold

"Autumn Colors"
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Still life setup

A good thing about painting still lifes is that I have a complete control over the subject matter and lighting.  If I choose fruits and vegetables, I get to eat them afterwards.  Flowers will adorn my house after posing for me as long as they are long-lasting kinds.  I learned the tricky business of painting fickle flowers hard way last year, when I tried to paint pink parrot tulips from my garden.  I ended up finishing the largish painting from a photograph, which I think negated the purpose of painting a still life from life!

"Pink Parrot Tulips" (oil, 20" x 16")
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So the yellow mum, a very long-lasting flower, was a wise choice for a still life of autumn colors.  The small Hubbard pumpkin with the most enchanting pinkish orange color alone would have made a painting, but in order to make it more companionable, I also picked up delicious, multi-colored, cherry tomatoes.  How about getting all the "ingredients" for my painting at a grocery store! 

The gold ribbon was added for a graceful flow between the foreground tomatoes and the background mum.  I cannot believe that I managed to paint this rather ambitious arrangement in such a small canvas!

"Red Rose" (oil on linen; 7" x 5")

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Still life setup

I have been living off my photographs for months and have finally had enough!  I decided instead to paint more from life.  As I don't seem to be eager to go outside to paint, I figured that simple still lifes would work better for my indolent self.  I ordered a shadow box contraption advertised in Carole Marine's blog, got fabrics to block the ambient light, and bought a red rose for my own still life setup.  So far so good.

Painting the darned rose was not as easy as it appeared.  I first tried it lying on a beige drape.  After a wipe-off and an indifferent painting, I gave up.  Yesterday the flower looked exactly the same as the day before (!), so I decided to have another go.  This time I put the rose in a crystal vase with a striped green fabric as the backdrop.  The vase didn't make into the small painting; the fabric became a neutral green environment.  Doesn't "Red Rose" look like a garden scene instead of a still life?

"Still Life with Watermelon" (oil on stretched canvas; 18" x 18")

"Still Life with Watermelon"
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Still life setup

"Watermelon, Carrots, and Red Onions" (oil, 11" x 14")
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Do you see similarities between my latest still life and the one right above, which I painted in the winter term?  Exactly same choices of fruit and vegetables!  Even the same burlap on the table.  Obviously, my teacher,  John Murray, really likes the combination of shapes and colors. 

Last Thursday evening, he put a swirl of a watermelon, onions, carrots, small pots, and kitchen towel on a low platform so that we could look down and paint.   Look closely. You will find a full spectrum of colors--red, white, blue, yellow, orange, green, and purple.  Aha!  That is what he was after. I must say that it is one delicious still life!

"Still Life with Yellow Sand Pail" (oil on canvas; 14" x 18") sold

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Still life setup

Last Thursday evening, my still-life teacher, John Murray, decided to make us do a one-color exercise, the color of choice being yellow.  Since it is one of my favorite colors, I was initially happy with the day's challenge.  Unfortunately, I soon felt my enthusiasm dissipate, as I couldn't figure out what colors were the shadow side of the yellow bucket (I loved it though!), lemons, golden delicious apple, or bananas.

If you can name a color, you can mix it.  If it simply looks like a dull, darker version of the color in the light, you are in trouble.  Oy!  John eventually came around to the rescue.  He helped me with the bucket, which was giving me the most trouble.  The class turned out to be an exercise in humility.  I was perhaps becoming too confident as I breezed through the two previous classes.  John's mantra is: "paint as if you have never painted before."  Yes, sir!  I will do that from now on.

"Blueberry Pie Party" (oil on canvas; 12" x 16") sold

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Still life setup 

I am getting used to a complicated setup, so I wasn't flabbergasted at the above arrangement by my teacher John Murray in yesterday's class.  It was the presence of the red colander with the brass-knobbed lid that bothered me.  I knew that it belonged there for color.  But who puts a colander, pretty or not, in the middle of a setup, which is obviously celebratory!  Ah, perhaps it was used to drain blueberries.  In my painting I deliberately omitted its perforations.

There were other issues too.  John noticed that I put the still life too high in the picture again.  Why do I keep doing that?  I introduced a suggestion of the second vertical plane, which kind of helped.  Still I had a lot of empty square inches of foreground to deal with.  I added one more candle and moved the candles to point toward the subjects.  The way the white-handled knife was sitting on the small plate, pointing out of the picture, was troubling too, but it stayed there so that I would have seven, not six, candle-like objects.  Always go for the odd number.

Do you know what?  The biggest challenge actually had nothing to do with my painting.  John had set up another arrangement with yummy-looking donuts.  The students who chose to paint them were having such success that I was turning green with envy.  No awkward colander to worry about.  No empty foreground to struggle with.  Just fun and games.

Now as I look at the finished painting, I see an elegance in its scheme.  The painting is all about the three primary colors--red, blue, and yellow.  It isn't a fun, loud party we are looking at.  It is a quiet celebration of food and a shared life.

"Watermelon, Carrots, and Red Onions" (oil on linen; 11" x 14")

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Still life setup

My teacher, John Murray, decided to shake things up this week.  He apparently thought we were becoming lazy!  He put the table in the middle of the room and began to pull out one thing after another from a grocery bag until he came up with the above setup.  He asked us whether we would like to have a cut honey dew as well.  We said no!  We were looking down at the whole mess of things against whatever happened to be across the room from where we were standing.  Some students couldn't even see the beautiful red onions; others had a lot of the crumpled kitchen towel to deal with.

As you can see in my painting, I cut much of the towel.  Clever me!  I had other problems, such as the delicate leafage of the carrots and the papery skins of the onions.  What stumped me the most, however, was the color temperature.  Somehow I painted it too warm as if I was painting in sunset.  I had to cool it down and more. 

Although the setup was mainly illuminated by the artificial yellow light, there was also the cool natural light filtering through the blinds from the windows.  Because of the double light sources, some highlights were warm and others, cool.  Fascinating.  I don't know for sure what caused the cast shadows of the onions to turn green, but I painted it as I saw.  The more I paint, the more I realize that painting is really an exercise in seeing.  The weekly still life painting class has been one of the most valuable learning experiences.  More to come next week.  Yeah!

"Mums, Carnations, and Cherries" (oil on linen; 14" x 11") sold

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The still life setup for the painting

I was just getting used to painting fruits and vegetables in John Murray's still life class.  When I saw the above setup last Wednesday, my jaw dropped.  Oy!  How was I supposed to paint spider chrysanthemums (I have drawn them before with a great difficulty), carnations, cherries, a demitasse with saucer (another drawing challenge), and a clear carafe with stems showing through, for a good measure!  The composition was awkward too.  The mums were pretty much stacked together where I was standing.  I had to persuade a classmate to swap the easel spots with me. 

As you can see from the photo, I still didn't like the position of the demitasse, but couldn't possibly move it to my liking without getting thrown out by other classmates.  So I took an artistic license by moving it slightly to the left in my painting.  I did consider painting only the flowers, but rejected the idea.  Why?

John is an experienced still life painter, who knows what he is doing.  He brought three primary-colored objects (yellow carnations, blue cup and saucer, and red cherries) for this complicated setup.  I didn't understand his rationale behind the purple mums, which nonetheless contrasted with the light, yellowish neutral drapery.  There had to be a good reason for them.  I did get the dark blue kitchen towel on the table; it anchored the whole thing.  Look at the beautiful shadows and reflected light on the pale drapery--greens, violets, and even oranges.  Wow!  I would have never come up with the combination.  I had to paint the entire setup, not a portion of it, to do justice to John's vision.

John doing a long demo for the attentive class

Do you know what the biggest challenge was after I settled on the composition?  It was the colors of the mums.  I saw and painted them too cool; so did some other students.  The mums in John's demo painting were much warmer in temperature.  I had to steer them toward warm pinks, purples, and muted oranges.  I am constantly fascinated by how people perceive colors differently.  Perhaps, John's is right.  I have the violet tendency!

"Two Red Peppers" (oil on linen; 11" x 14") sold

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The still life setup

We don't often give ourselves and others enough time.  Enough time for sleeping; for eating (by doing other things like reading at the same time); for others to finish talking; or for painting.  We beat ourselves up, rush about, and get all stressed out as a result.  For instance, my still life class with John Murray on Wednesdays is always hectic.  Out of three hours, more than an hour is dedicated for the teacher's putting together three setups in a crowded studio, a quick demo, and a group critique. 

Instead of being disgusted with my painting as was by the end of the class, I decided to continue working on it at home with a photo of the setup.  I don't know whether it is cheating or not, but there was no reason whatsoever to get stressed out by the pressure of the limited time.  Painting is neither a race, nor a performance art.  It is a kind of meditation.  One is supposed to be truly present, mindful of the task at hand.  Unfortunately, I tend to paint fast and dash off one painting after another, quite a few of which turn out to be duds.  I am aware of my shortcomings and intend to work on them.

Anyhow, I am glad of my decision to take the above picture.  The drawing wasn't bad.  It was my initial treatment of the green and dark blue violet draperies that was problematic.  I had ignored all the folds and creases and had also made a straight "horizon" line where the fabrics met.  Dead boring!  The color of the green cloth was too warm; the brushstrokes were too grassy-looking.  I fixed the problems, as you can see.  I also worked some more on the peppers and bowl as well.  I am rather pleased with the final painting. 

The more I look at it, however, the more I see green and dark blue landscapes in the background.  The peppers and bowl look like huge objects lying on green fields, like Gulliver in the island country of Lilliput.  Perhaps I should stop meditating while painting by staring at my painting too long!

"Pink Parrot Tulips" (oil on canvas, 20" x 16")

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Still life setup

I don't know what I was thinking when I started this ambitious still life project in the middle of a busy week.  It took four days to finish, and every time when I sat down to paint, there was a different setup in front of me.  By Friday, the tulips were dead; the yellow-orange spray of flowers prone on the fabric was long gone.  it's good that I had taken the photo as a backup.  A friend of mine told me the other day that she was "done" with photos, and I am sure they are an anathema to the purists.  But I don't know how I would have completed the painting without the photographic aid.  You tell me.

There were two challenges that I had to face in painting "Stilll Life with Pink Parrot Tulips."  I chose the brocade-looking fabric, thinking that it complemented the curvy, sensuous feel of the setup.  Deciding how developed it should be a puzzle though.  In the end I left it at a vague and suggestive stage so that it didn't compete with the main show. 

The gerbera daisy vase was another big headache; the fancy bas-relief design was really tricky to render.  When I started painting still lifes a month ago, I mentioned something about a simple glass vase wtih a few sprigs of flowers being the extent of my ambition.  I should have stuck to my words.  On the other hand, how would I grow as an artist if I don't continually challenge myself?