"Red, White and Blue" (oil on canvas; 12" x 16")

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Still life setup

I was already very tired when I went to John Murray's still life class on Thursday night.  I wasn't in the mood or shape to tackle a painting.  Not that the above setup was any more complicated than usual.  John generally starts a term with "easy" arrangements, then proceeds to increasingly challenging ones.  But when one is tired, with a decreased level of concentration, anything can be experienced as an insurmountable obstacle. 

Such was the case with the white porcelain tureen.  I didn't even try to emulate its vertical ridges; I couldn't get its relatively simple form right.  The shadows on the tureen were, of course, too purple, as you may remember that I have a violet tendency.  What about the blue drapery?  Yikes!  My painting was "relentlessly" blue, as my teacher said.  He told me to inject some warmth to the blues.  I came home exhausted, feeling quite middle-aged!

On Friday morning, still tired after a restless night, I attacked the painting to see it through.  I fixed the drawing of the tureen, made its shadows and reflected light in them more interesting, and did my utmost best to make the blues of the fabric warmer.  The red peppers and plum?  After all the trouble I've had with the rest of the painting, they were easy!

"Three Oranges and White Tureen" (oil on linen; 11" x 14") sold

"Three Oranges and White Tureen"
sold

"Yellow and Violet Still Life" (oil, 11" x 14")
sold

"Two Red Peppers" (oil, 11" x 14")
sold

"Red and Green Apples" (oil, 11" x 14")
sold

I am beginning to see the pattern in the still life setups by my teacher John Murray--the harmony created by complementary colors.  In the first class he gave us red and green apples with neutral draperies.  In the second week, he challenged us with the intensity of red bell peppers against two different shades of green cloths.  The third week's setup was all about the yellow/violet vibrations.  This week he not only baffled us with the orange/blue juxtaposition but also with the octagonal planes of the white tureen! 

His choice of draperies is deliberate.  They may someday come with stripes and all sorts of patterns and textures.  The white bowls, which are clearly included for their reflective qualities, are becoming more complex in their shapes; one even flaunts floral patterns. In the midst of the ever-mounting challenges of painting fruits, vegetables, and fabrics, we are also constantly reminded of the crucial importance of composition and paint application. 

We struggle valiantly to mix the right reds, blues, greens, oranges, violets, and yellows we see in the setups, and often end up with disgusting colors.  The prominent colors in "Three Oranges and White Tureen" are blues and oranges.  For whatever reason, my original color notes were oranges and violets.  John's comment was that I have the violet tendency!  I had to work hard to depurplize the violets and steer them toward blues.  We can, of course, ignore what we see and paint the way we like, as one student was doing with the extremely limited palette of only three colors, plus white.  Or, we can try to mix colors correctly.  Argh.  The vexing still lifes!