Painting with Pallet Knife and more
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| Melograni Siciliani (Sicilian Pomegranates), 12 X 12, oil on aluminium panel by Marian Dioguardi, 2018 |
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| Carciofi Siciliani (Sicilian Artichokes) 16 X 12 in., oil on aluminium panel by Marian Dioguardi, 2018 |
The pomegranate painting cooperated with the pallet knife technique. I used my pallet knife for laying in broad shapes, putting down strong clean colors as well as building interesting textures. Sometimes a painting requires scumbing (scraping wet paint over textured, dry paint) with the pallet knife. I barley used a brush for painting Melograni Siciliani.
Painting Carciofi Siciliani, on the other hand, was a challenge. The colors of fresh market Sicilian artichokes are beautiful, complicated and changing. The colors are both strong and subtle color. The always seem to be changing depending on the light and my own perception like a rare Alexandrite.
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| Cyclic gemmy Alexandrite crystal, Sri Lanka from Siggi's Crystal-Treasure.com |
The artichokes themselves look like flowers with petals. artichokes are more like buds from which a thistle like bloom will open. It helps to paint artichokes as flowers; the difference being that there is a hardness and a stiffness to artichoke "leafs" and a softness to flower petals. a bold pallet knife stroke, the direction and the texture of the pallet knife stroke helps define the hard, stiff surface of the artichoke. However for the subtle colors I needed to resort to glazing a transparent color over an opaque color with a brush and often painting and blending with my fingers. I just threw all the tricks I could think of at this painting for showing you how beautiful these artichokes were.
And to show you how delicious the are here is a traditional basic recipe from Cucina Grandinetti: Sicilian Stuffed Artichokes. My family recipe it to add shopped Kalamata olives and pine nuts to the bread crumb mixture. Buon Appetito!
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