Here is the painting I was talking about that I felt coming on.  I wanted to do a larger version of the one we did in class and add a few other elements to the composition.

I just started it.  What I did is tone it with a gold metallic gesso.  Let it dry.

I placed the objects on my canvas. and started to block in the darks.

Next I started putting in some of the colors.  I like to start with the red of the apples to get things going.  It makes the painting exciting.

I'm going to put in the wooden plate that we used on the last painting.  Also, I'm going to change the grapes to green.  I think it would complement the red apples better.  In the next photo, I have put in the design of the teapot and all of the gold areas that you see is what I "scratched" out.  Since the under painting of the canvas was gold.  I took a bamboo stick and rub out tool ( I'll show you in the next class) and scratched out the areas of the metal handle, the edges of the teapot trimmed in gold and I added leaves and vines so I scratched out them too.  This gives it a little different look to it.  But I'm not finished.

Here are some close ups

Here is where I left off.  I'm going to go back where I "scratched" out and put a glaze(with liquin) on some of the areas and make the vines and leaves more like vines and leaves.  But you have to to the scratching out on the first session while its wet. I also went ahead and signed it by scratching out even though I'm not done with it yet.

I didn't put in the fabric background this time. I may still put it in, not sure.  I'm kind of liking the whimsical swirls of the vines and leaves though.  I just might leave them alone.  We'll see.

I went back over the base colors of the teapot so that it would be wet when I put in the design details on it.  I wanted it to be impressionistic looking and blend it and not have very sharp edges.  I sketched in the handle with vine charcoal.  I worked on the background some and put in little splashes of muted color so it would give the impression of a pattern on the backdrop.

Below I worked on the grapes.  I didn't like them as dark as they were so I lightened them up a little with purple,crimson and a little white.  They still need a dark middle to them, but you need to put in some lighter color at the bottom and some at the top of the grape to give a translucent look to them.  When they are dry go back and add a touch of white for a highlight where the light source hits them.  You can also see where I put in the lace edge of the cloth.  I just did this with white and a touch of blue.  When it dried I went back with a dark color (blue, purple& burnt sienna) and hit the edges a little to give the impression of a shadow underneath the lace.

Here is a close up of the teapot after I put in the handle and highlights.  I feel another painting coming on.  I think I'm going to do the teapot again but have a gold underpainting and scratch out the areas where the gold and metal are on the teapot.  

I brightened the red of the apple and put in the highlights on it as well. Also on the garlic.  If you look real close on the garlic you will see the blue and purple I put in there.  I was trying to make my shadows cool colors since I had a warm light on it.

Here is the finished painting.  I will probably put a coat of liquin on it when it dries so it will have a completed finish.

Bring you paintings back to class on Wed and we will work on them some more.

Plus if there is something at you home that you would like to put into a painting, bring it and we will see if we can put it in a still life.  If you want make one of those little things I made out of foam core so you can bring it to class and make your own still life.  You can also use a box on its side.

See you wed.

Debra