My Latest Still Life Painting (“Bagel & Butter”) and Its Development.
My Latest Still Life Painting (“Bagel & Butter”) and Its Development.
”Bagel & Butter”
9” x 12”
Oil on birch panel
2018
Greetings Everyone,
In this post I thought I’d share my latest still life painting and share how it progressed.
With this particular painting I ended up jumping in very quickly.
Of course I once again began with a loose drawing of the knife, butter and bagel. At this stage I was pretty much concerned with the placement of the objects without worrying about details. I then with a larger brush massed in the background and ground plane to simultaneously work towards defining values and to get rid of the annoying stark white surface.
Now focusing on the plate and bagel I then proceeded to lay in the first pass. While still ignoring the details, at this point I was attempting to refine the drawing and find their local colors.
Throughout the course of the painting I was using a drying medium with my paint which thankfully made it easier to continue to refine and move on to additional passes without having to wait for the previous layer to become tacky enough to paint over.
Now moving on to the butter, I then proceeded to do the same methodical approach.
At this point I’d also like to add that this section of the painting I found to be tricky in that after every painting session I had to put the butter back into the fridge in order to preserve its shape and then readjust its placement the next morning.
..As with all man made objects, I have to say that working on the knife was the most difficult. I can assure you that correcting the drawing was most of the work, otherwise it just looks off.
Now all that the painting needed was some reworking some edges and sunken in areas..
..Aaaand it’s finished!!
Oo bagle and butter, both are my favourites :) Your use of a black background is really brilliant in making the subjects stand out and they look realistic as with the rest of your artwork. What is the drying medium that you used? This piece must have taken some time that you needed to put the butter back into the fridge :) but it was all well the effort. Congrats on another curie vote :)
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@marblely Thank you! :) To be perfectly honest, the cloth for the background and ground plane is actually a deep warm green. I still have a yet to master the ability to take pictures of my own work ;)
The medium I used was Old Masters Italian wax medium. It's kind of like maroger but without the mastic varnish in it. I like using it but I wouldn't recommend using it all the time.
This painting I was able to finish in a few days. But as far as the butter is concerned, I just had to make sure to put it back in the fridge at the end of the day.
And thanks again! Nothing like a Curie vote to lighten up my steemit efforts! :)
Oh sorry... hehe it is ok, the background still looks good :)
Ah.. and here I was, thinking the medium would be some kind of fan or dryer :D I am guessing that the Old Masters Italian wax medium would dry almost quite instantly like a burnt candle wax? Why do you not recommend using it all the time? Oh I forgot to mention earlier that I love the sesame seeds on the bagel :)
There's no need for an apology. Let alone that our brains are wired to see value before temperature or color. And with that being said I still have much to learn :)
But no I don't believe that's the case. If I were to guess I would say that you're thinking about it too literally. While granted yes there is an amount of wax in it, for the most part there are these ingredients they mine out of the earth that I can't remember their names at the moment, but they react to the pigment and oil in the paint on a molecular level. These ingredients speed up the "drying" time by further exposing the paint to oxygen, in which increases the rate of oxidation.
I recommend only using it when you absolutely have to, and that even depends on the kind of picture you're wanting to paint. As even with most types of mediums, it has a tendency to yellow. And chances are that if you're working on a relatively high key painting with lots of light, you're gonna notice a difference.
Oo ok.. Yes I have to admit, I am thinking about it very literally :)
I am so grateful to be able to appreciate and to learn from amazing artists like yourself on this platform. A year ago, I would never have guessed that I could be conversing with so many artists and needleworkers and professionals in their respective areas and now, I am able to do that on Steemit. It makes more sense now that you explained the science behind the wax, reaction on a molecular level, thus speeding up drying time by means of exposure to oxygen. Thank you so much for the time and knowledge that you share. Something I will never have known :) I wish you a happy, happy Sunday there :)
You have rediscovered what food photography looked like before cameras where invested. So much time and effort for a piece and yet seeing it all put together makes the whole thing worth the trouble. I admire the dedication.
@adamada Thank you so much! :)
Beautiful still-life painting! What a struggle with that butter.. how many days did you paint it? In my opinion it came out very appetizing :) I'm convinced this is vegan butter (so that I could have it for breakfast too :))
Thank you for sharing and have a great weekend!
@delishtreats It took me about 3 days. Thank you so much! :)
A beautiful still life painting :). I like how each object looks as their real life counterpart, I think you did very nicely here.
Congratulations for the curie vote ^_^.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful painting, like it so much, especially now at 8 am and seeing all that I have a great appetite for breakfast, that is what the painting must do to make people's mind to influence the person who observing the painting. Love that simple still life presentation, you paid a great attention to the light source and that shadow bellow the bagel that drops black shadow of blue plate, that is reall realistic reflection. Like the way you decided to do the background just simple dark so that the person who observes is not distracted from the objects. Beautifully done!
@stef1 Thank you! I'm glad to know that it's doing its job ;D
I don't normally enjoy still-lifes these days but, this painting is making this artist hungry. Great work!
@shaman-ra Thank you so much! I'm glad it's already doing part of its job ;D
Thanks for reminding me that still lifes are a thing and can be compelling if done right. Maybe this will become a trend again? I understand art history quite a bit and realize the big catalyst that changed art was the advent of the camera, which put artists who did realistic portrayals "out of business" in a sense.
How do you mean? Are you referring to still lifes or classical painting in general? Because as far as classical painting is concerned, its revival actually took place in the early 80's ;)
And yes, even Vermeer for example was a major proponent in the use of the camera. Even still to this day experts are still baffled on how he was able to create some of the work he did.
I was unaware of the revival. I was referring to that period in the 1800's when the camera was invented which made realistic portraits a cheaper option for folks compared to what the painters offered at the time. It is to my understanding this was the catalyst that led artists to achieve what the camera could not, resulting in things such as cubism, impressionism and the like. I will have to check out Vermeer sometime. Everytime I learn of a new artist, I hear of 3 more that are new to me. It is like a journey that doesn't end.
Oh yes, Vermeer was even further back than that with his use of the camera obscura! But the contemporary period in which you are referring to was actually after the impressionists came along, and the impressionists were those that completely rejected the classical/traditional modes of visual interpretation that lasted up to the late 19th century. The impressionists were those who valued color and the physical tangibility of light over the logical approach towards form, value, structure, etc..
Absolutely lovely, the step to step pictures gives more insight and it turn out well.... But can I have some?.. Lol
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