Christmas Tea Pot

Christmas Teapot

With Christmas decorations all around, setting up a still life was relatively easy.    My Christmas teapot, given to me a long time ago by my mother usually gets a lot of use during this season, but this year it remains on display for painting reference purposes.  It sits next to my shell angel, gumdrop sticks and ornaments.

I hope you are enjoying all of your traditional decor in your homes, and the fond memories that they bring!

Festive Windowboxes

Little House and Snowy Greens

Every year as Christmas approaches, I work on at least one holiday painting. This year, one became four paintings as they were fun to create

The plan was to give the gallery a related grouping during the run up to Christmas.   Window boxes decorated for the holidays became the theme.   This idea came to me as I start thinking about how to decorate my own real window boxes.  The options are endless and I hope my real window box has as much color.

Red Ribbon Window Box

And speaking of color, the palette knife was useful for laying on the thick masses of cascading greens and flowers.  It was also good for creating rustic clapboards with a bit of scraping and multi-layering.

'Tis the Season!

Window Box Splash

Ornaments and Pink Ribbon

Christmas Carol and Red Ribbon

Christmas Carol and Red Ribbon

All the Christmas decorations are up and over the years, like many people, we have added to our collection.   I selected a few favorite items and combined them on the still life shelf in my studio.   This still life features some "rustic" pieces (a basket, greens, pine cones, berries and a book.) 

In our house, "A Christmas Carol" is a favorite, both book and movie (George C. Scott version :)).  That is why this was the volume featured in this Christmas still life. 

See Starry Snowman (previous post) blog for the photo of my studio still life shelf with two still life set ups, one of which is this featured piece.

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Starry Snowman with Shiny Accents

Two Still Life Groupings

With all the Christmas decorations around the house, I could probably have picked a shelf or table and set up my easel and paint a still life.   I played it safe though (oil paint can be a bit dangerous - and permanent) and chose a few items to stage on my still life shelf in the studio.   I don't find playing with composition particularly easy, and I had selected a number of shiny things bulbs, sparkly ribbons, and a few "rustic" pieces (a basket, greens, pine cones, berries and a book.)  Intermingled on the shelf, they were not harmonious and in fact, they conflicted.


 Once separated into two groupings, each cluster looked much nicer, and thus the two different paintings. 

The first photo shows the shelf with both still life set ups.

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Starry Snowman with Shiny Accents

In Good Hands

In Good Hands

I loved this family photograph from Christmas so I decided to paint it.   It was a candid shot of my Grand-nephew being held by his Dad while they opened his Christmas gift bag.   Baby was more interested in watching all the activity in the room while chomping on his chubby little fist.    He is so cute and I am not just saying it!  

Sometimes a painting flows and this was one of them.   Although it was done from a photograph instead of "from life"  the structural likenesses were important.   I tried to approach the sketch in exactly the same way as I would if I had the figures physically present.    I think I got off to a good start by establishing a strong geometric rendering which yielded the correct perspectives.

If you like the painting, you can help my "like" count by clicking this link.

To see a video of intermittent stages of this painting's development, you can go to the blog directly and click on the video link.  It's less than five minutes long.

You can also watch via YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_AP_3k1_o4

White Christmas Lilies

White Lily Christmas Still Lie

I received a gorgeous Christmas floral arrangement with red roses, red ribbons, evergreens and white lilies from friends who live near me.   I am thoroughly enjoying the arrangement as a centerpiece on my table between two Christmas taper candles, but also have been taking it to the studio with me and painting it.    At the point of delivery, most of the lilies were closed, but by Christmas day, six lilies in total had opened.   I knew lilies had a scent but these were heaven.

I chose a 20" x 24" canvas and expanded the still life on either side of the lily centerpiece with a gold wire trimmed angel and some holly leaves and berries.  I plan to work on making the right side background look a little darker, and somewhat richer as if a tapestry.   I'll probably leave the left background alone, since it looks like hints of a dangling mistletoe.

Christmas Still Life with Nutcracker

Christmas Still Life Demo Nutcracker

Shown in the photo to the right is the painting I did at Compass on the Bay Senior Residence.  I was looking down at the set up of the nutcracker figure, glass Christmas bulbs and a cranberry colored wire ribbon.  The lighting wasn't great, but a lamp behind the set up cast a few shadows so at least the objects looked grounded.

What a lovely and attentive audience.   They offered feedback and asked questions as it isn't always easy to tell what is developing, especially at the beginning of the painting.  It didn't take long to remember something I already knew about talking and painting at the same time.  I find it very hard, and have great admiration for people who can do it.   Painter and teacher Dianne Paranelli Miller comes to mind; she can verbalize continuously as she paints; so can painter Daniel Keys.

Luckily for all of us at Compass on the Bay, present in the audience was a knowledgeable watercolorist and painting enthusiast.  She sat up front and supplemented my skimpy narrative by explaining what I was doing when I drifted into a muted "right brain" mode.  Many thanks to her!!

Shown here is the finished painting.   Back in the studio I decided to transform the yellow and blue walls into Christmas tree greens with lights and more ornaments.

Christmas Still Life Nutcracker

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*If you have ever read "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Dr. Betty Edwards, you read that certain types of brain functons are dominated by one side of the brain over the other.    For example, studies have shown that while working on tasks that required logic, analysis and/or verbal expression, the left hemisphere was most active and in control.    While people were working on tasks that were visual and intuitive, the right side of the brain was most active and in control.    Furthermore, the contention was that at any one time, usually people are operating more strongly in one half of the brain with some minor support from the other half.  It was noted that people often have difficulty simultaneously executing tasks that depend strongly on one side of the brain or the other.  So - this is the scientific evidence I offer for my deficient verbalizing while painting!

Christmas Still Life

2012 Christmas Still Life Set Up

 The Christmas decorations are up and everything is sparkling.   For this year's Christmas still life painting, I chose a few festive objects, a Santa Claus statue, some holly, a roll of curling ribbon and a wine bottle gift tube.    I covered my still life shelf with gold satin fabric. The wine bottle tube had some height to it so I elected to turn the canvas portrait style.    The Santa was in the middle with holly and berries at his feet.

The first photo shows the set up and an early version of the painting. I made the mistake of using some Ivory Black of a cheap brand to fill in the background. It was like trying to spread black lard across the surface. I ended up wiping it off canvas, scraping it off my palette and throwing the tube away. I dug out my Gamblin Ivory Black and used that mixed with some Prussian Blue for the background.    I vow to not use that cheap paint again.

Christmas Still Life before Ribbon

I liked the wine tube because the top had a mottled gold pattern that I painted by layering with my palette knife.  I took some liberties with the color and pumped it up in a few places.   Here was the painting after completing the objects, but prior to adding the shiny red ribbon.   At this point I was thinking that this painting was fun and relaxing after several plein air, and live model paintings in a row. It's not that those aren't fun too; it's just that they are much more demanding mentally and physically.

Then easy fun became challenging fun.  The painting was fairly dry and ready for adding the ribbon.
This is a photo of the painting prior to taking the last bold step which was to paint a long twisting strand of red curling ribbon coming off the roll and winding all around the painting.

Christmas Still Life w Curling Ribbon

I unfurled several feet of it and wove the curls in and out of the objects on the shelf so that it travelled all over.    (I did something similar on another painting "Gotta Get Gardening," in which I used gardening jute the same way).   What I wanted the ribbon to do was unify the objects by connecting them and potentially supplying an overt guide to the viewer when scanning the painting. 

For the record, the jute was much easier since it had a uniform thickness and no shine.   The ribbon had the complexity of a shiny side and opaque side as well as the changes in the ribbon from visible to invisible, varying widths and twirls.

Here is the painting with the ribbon and its shadows.   The question is, should I have left the ribbon off?   Maybe.   Well too late now.

Merry Christmas!

Chocolate

There are people who don't like chocolate and there are people who love it and every level in between.   Then there is me.   I am off the chart. 

If I was stuck on a desert island with limited choices for food, chocolate would be one of them.  Chocolate syrup goes in my morning and afternoon coffee.  When I travel, I pack cans of chocolate syrup.  My automatic dessert preference is chocolate.  

Several aspects of chocolate make it so appealing including its taste, texture and endomorphinic rush.   I stop short and worry when I hear a health news story regarding chocolate.   To date, they have only reassured me, thankfully, that chocolate continues be shown to have health benefits (probably not sugar as binder).    I really ought to offer myself up to the medical world as the person to study for the effects from large amounts of chocolate and save lab mice from their tortured little worlds.

Block In

Drug of Choice 9x12 inch

It is fitting then that chocolate should be elevated beyond the kitchen shelf and honor it with an oil painting.   This larger-than-life homage to chocolate was started at Christmas when the house was fully stocked with chocolate in several different formats, syrup, cocoa powder, bon bons and chocolate kisses. 

Christmas Still Life Complete

A sprig of holly is now included in the still life I shared a few days ago.  The little bit of green leaves and red berries add some color to the lower part of the painting, balancing the red of Santa's hat.   The low angle of the light fully illuminates the bottom leaf and catches just the tips of the top leaves.   I can see in this photo that the fully illuminated leaf needs a cast shadow.   So I'll add that with a deep value, sign it then hang it in the living room for the rest of the Christmas season.    In Mid-January it will be dry enough to pack away with the rest of the trimmings.   If, next Thanksgiving it needs nothing radical, I'll frame it and declare it a family heirloom. 

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Still Life

We always decorate for Christmas on Thanksgiving weekend.   In one of the boxes was a still life that I did in December of last year.      Now the fact that this painting got packed into the decorations last year means that I thought it didn't need any more work.     It was a red poinsetta to the left and a white tea pot in front on the right.   I stared at it in amazement.   The muddy pink/red petals were too uniform, lacking shadows and variety.   The green leaves and green ornaments competed with each other and were too light.   Rather than the spout and the handle of the teapot being aligned at 180 degrees, the spout looked like it came out awkwardly at about 157 degrees.

I grabbed it, marched to my studio and leaned it on the ledge over my palette.   Once a canvas makes its way to this spot, it is about to become a subsurface for a new painting.   Within a day the awful Christmas still life became a red, gold and green swirl of color.  It actually makes a very attractive abstract.   I wish I had taken a picture of it prior to putting the swirls on it so I could remember what it was that so disliked. Why didn't my eyes see the flaws last year when I first painted it?    You really do become blind to the distortion somehow.     So now I had a nice colorful ground for a new painting, but no longer had a Christmas still life.    Which brings me to the painting I did today.

Three of my favorite Christmas decorations are included.  They include a ceramic Santa moon wall hanging, a weathered looking French horn and a jingle bell instrument.   I like rustic looking items over glittery ones, and I chose to use a piece of black foamcore for the background.   My husband is a composition expert and he actually arranged the items for me.  Getting the Santa moon to be suspended against the background took some ingenuity.  (Fishing line, tape, spotlight, knot tying and a jar candle to be exact.)  

Placing the spotlight at a low angle produced some nice background shadows, especially of Santa's profile.  I like how there are three tangent circles in the Santa, the bells, and the horn.   There is too much wet paint right now to finish the bells, but I will be using my silver cup experience to improve those - hopefully.     I am also thinking about adding a sprig of holly that sort of sits on the back of the horn.    Comments?

Like last year's still life painting, this one will get packed away with the decorations.   It will be interesting to see what my impartial, fresh artist eye thinks of it next year.   Will it too become a ghost for a painting future?