My Latest Still Life Painting (Melons & Berries) and Its Development
Melons & Berries
9" x 12"
Oil on birch
2018
Greetings fellow steemians!,
In this post once again I thought I would share and discuss my latest still life (Melons & Berries) along with unraveling its development.
..Here below is a shot of my still life setup in reality.
I was thankful in at least I didn't have to replace the strawberries before they began to pass on.
Using a primed birch panel, I jumped in right away with loose drawing in thinned burnt umber. At this point I am attempting to get the surface covered as quickly as possible as to get rid of the stark white surface. Once that is accomplished, I can accurately judge value and temperature.
In relation to the lighting scheme I had to somewhat define the edges of the core shadow on the watermelon to firmly establish the shadow and light shapes. With light bouncing all around I found myself making an executive decision I felt very confident and precise in making. I then proceeded to mass in the shadow of the melon making sure to keep its underside warm.
Working from back to front simultaneously on the background and the edges of the melon, I made sure to keep those edges soft knowing that it is much easier to sharpen them later if need be than to correct those edges in reverse.
Then from the previously established core shadow, I then began working from the terminator line ( where the light and shadow meet) up into the light all the while attempting to accurately capture the patterns of the watermelon.
Now after covering the background and ground plane, I then moved on to the strawberries completing the initial first pass.
And now that I am able to perceive a greater sense of relativity, I then decided to go back into the shadow of the watermelon and redefine some of those subtle patterns.
Returning back where the edges of the ground plane meet the background, I then worked my way upwards, extending the midtones where in effect I was compressing the entire value range.
At this point I felt that everything has been heading in the right direction, I then decided to refine the strawberries a little and add the highlights on the melon.
..Aaannd it's finished!!
Please feel free to let me know what you think?
Thanks for reading Everyone!
-James Hansen