Day 13 #stradaeasel
The day lightened to a very dull gray once again today. Great weather to stay indoors and paint.
I took some time putting away all my gear from the workshop as well as checking the previous oils to see which have dried so that I could put them away. I’m running out of space for drying. A great problem to have!
I decided to set up our gold and white mugs, in which we enjoy our favorite nighttime cup of tea, “Evening in Missoula.” I thought that I’d tackle two difficult concepts once again—white on white along with ellipses. Both are so very challenging but apparently, I’m a glutton for punishment.
I set up the mugs inside a box but this time, I lined the box with leftover white foamcore so that I got that white on white effect. I arranged the mugs in as pleasing an arrangement as I could. The idea being that this time, the composition would be subordinate to the other concepts I was attempting.
The photo doesn’t fully show the subtleties of color gradation but I think the color temperature (warm or cool) is coming through pretty well.
I painted the mugs with up and down strokes and perhaps I should have made horizontal strokes following the contours of the rounded mug. Next time, I’ll experiment a little more.
I really studied how the cast shadows changed from warm near the gold mug to cool where the beam of cool light passed through the two mugs. That’s the benefit of repeating these exercises—I’m training my eye to see the differences and/or similarities between color temperature and value. Value is a term that refers to the range of gray tones between black and white. Value also applies to any color hue. Think fire engine red (dark value) to the cotton candy pink (light value).
One fun little side note: I’ve been reading Walter Isaacson’s “Leonardo da Vinci.” The author describes in beautiful detail how Leonardo created his color transitions with such softness and delicacy especially within his portraits. His technique is what elevated him from most of his contemporary painters. What a wonderful revelation while I’m tackling white on white.
The artistic muse moves in creative and startling ways!
