A Key Workshop Experience - Days Three and Four

The third and fourth days of the Daniel Keys oil painting 

Teacups, Fruit and Flowers

workshop focussed on still life.     Antique teacups and fruit were added to the floral displays from day two.    Daniel set up a large canvas, 16x20 inches, and painted a beautiful composition of teacups, begonias, yellow pansies and fruit.   The lighting scheme was cool light and warm shadows and he worked it with clean, bright color over the two days.

For me, having painted the purple and yellow pansies on the previous painting, they were much easier this time around.     I nudged a pansy down into the left teacup to create a shadow inside.  Daniel thought it was a neat idea and did the same to his set up.

I tried to stay in step with his painting by executing the floral elements and greenery first. The values contrast of the pink impatiens light and shadow is a definite improvement over my past florals.   We also worked on painting the negative spaces around certain leaves and stems. The dahlia may be too dominant from a composition perspective, but it was good practice setting in each row of petals from outer to inner.  

The teacups that Daniel painted had gold leaf trim.   My teacups didn't have gold, but I liked it so much that I added it.   The gold on the darker sides of the cup was made from cad lemon, terra rosa and light green.   The gold highlight was cad lemon and cad yellow deep.

I can see that I will have to come back to this painting for a few details, like the shine on the middle apple and the cup handles and any other comments that I get from readers.

What a worthwhile experience!   I have lots of notes on techniques and color that I will be trying in the near future.  It was a week packed with learning and I have an even greater admiration for a rising star in the art world in Daniel, and I met great group of new friends who paint.