Frome Start to Finish continued

" Every fine fisherman has a few fancy stunts that work for him and for almost no one else".

Here is the next installment about my painting processes but keep in mind that quote. My painting is a process cobbled together with techniques and approaches which work for me. My paintings look the way they do because I have taken some of this from one teacher; some of that from another teacher; a little dash of that from a historic painter; a smidgen from my colleagues and mixed it all up with everything that I've got inside of me. And Voila..out comes my paintings and they are distinctively mine.

After the still life is set up and the sketch is done, I fully draw, in paint, the composition onto my painting surface, which is panel here. This drawing is mono chromatic, typically in black and white.In this case (I rarely do this) I have outlined each cup it the local color of that cup. I did this to give me a visual clue how these colors were going to work. This gave me an opportunity to make changes, easily, should I want to.

After the drawing on the panel is completed I paint by mixing colors and "blocking in" broad accurate colors in a very graphic way. I always starting with the background. I was taught this by Ed Stitt and I find it incredibly helpful to begin this way. All colors and values relate to the background.(And if you go to his website...you will recognize my cups and saucers which were used when teaching still life painting!)

So in this stage four image, here, you will see that the background has been painted in, the bottom plate is painted in and I just started to work on the large bowl when it was time to stop and cook dinner. To be continued....