The Last Bouquet of Summer.....a still life demonstration
Painting still life's has been a passion of mine. Earlier this summer a friend brought me a bouquet of her last zinnia's in her garden. Their colors were so beautiful I just had to paint them. I do all of my still life photography. Sometimes I spend several days setting up the composition and studying the light. Below is the photo reference I used for my painting demonstration.
Stage 1: I spend a lot of time studying my photo and making my color decisions. One thing that I really like to focus on are the shadows. One of the reasons I chose this particular image was for the beautiful reflective shadows and ambient light on the white vase. Cast shadows typically don't have as much color in them as ambient light shadows. I never use Paynes Gray for my shadow colors....for me this is a big no no. Shadows should be infused with the colors that are coming from the surrounding subjects.
Stage 2: Begins with getting my drawing on the paper and laying in the first few glazes. Typically I usually start with my lightest colors such as yellows and orange. I always begin my glazes with transparent colors. Aureolin Yellow was used for the cool transparent yellow and Indian Yellow was used for the warm yellows. Stay tuned for the next few stages.......