It all starts with an idea... I'll paint an orange. After starring at this orange for an hour, I realized, an orange is difficult to get excited about as is. What if I took that orange and cut it in half? Would that create a little more excitement for me? Here is what the above orange looked like cut in half. Not the most attractive.
So, let's keep cutting until we find something that is interesting.
Ahhhh -- that is more like it. I love the way the light penetrates the flesh of the orange, making it glow. Okay, now that I was pleased with the orange, I needed to create a composition that would work as a still life painting.
Bingo! That is it. Three slices (compositions usually work best in threes). Adding in the knife creates some tension and a hard/sharp edge to play with.
Okay, with the composition ready, it was time to paint.
Okay, with the composition ready, it was time to paint.
The first step I did to create this painting was to lightly tone my 12x12 stretched canvas and then sketch the composition onto it. After the sketch, I laid down the 'hero' of the painting... the orange slices.
Next came the rough in of the knife. Notice that I am breaking the rules of oil painting. I am not worried about dark vs. light or painting the background before the foreground. I am focused on painting my heroes first. Getting them right to me is my main focus.
As a final step, I lay in the supporting cast (the plate, the background the shadows, etc) to give the heroes a stage to play on. This process is important as this is when your heroes go from being just Superman and Batman - to being part of the Super Friends
Here is the final piece. This painting will be part of my upcoming group show at my Alma Mater - St. Andrews University.
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