Mary B Spires Watercolor & Art Stuff

It's time to let it sit overnight! May add more paint tomorrow. Starting to get "MUD".

I did the design on the sugar jar with Ultramarine Blue. I also added a few seeds to the strawberry with dark Gray, with a little Cadmium Yellow. The shape of the Jar is still giving me trouble at this stage of the painting. It's time to walk away for a few..........

Next I mixed a large puddle of Medium Gray, Ultramarine Blue plus Burnt Sienna. This mixture can be lightened with White. The Strawberry was painted with Cadmium Red Medium, the shadow with a little Alizarin Crimson added. I mixed Ultramarine with Cadmium Yellow for the Greens.

5" x 4" Oil on Canvas I have always been captivated by Rembrandt, not only by his paintings, but the concept of being lead through the painting by the light. David Leffel is a "student" so to speak of Rembrandt. I had the opportunity to see several of Mr. Leffel's painting a couple of years ago. I just couldn't spend enough time with them. I would probably still be there! This under painting is called Monochrome, this describes a picture that's made with varying tones of one color. I mixed Burnt Sienna plus Ultramarine Blue to get a darker value of Burnt Sienna. I first toned the canvas with thin wash of this mixture. Let this dry, then sketched in the design with a #2 Filbert brush. I used a soft synthetic brush to lift out the color where the light struck the various objects.

This is todays project, my favorite "Sugar Jar" and of course a Strawberry. I shot this in low light, creating a Chiaroscuro, literally means "light/dark". In chiaroscuro painting, your eye follows the light. The light gives the picture its flow-it takes the eye from one place to another, and the shadows structure the painting.

5" x 4" Oil on Canvas Step 3 and hopefully the finish. At least I signed it, but of course this doesn't mean I won't work on it again!!!!!

5" x 4" Oil on Canvas Step 2: This is the block in, just wanted to get the canvas covered. I decided to use the local color for each object. This seems to works best for me. I used Cadmium Red plus a touch of Alizarin Crimson. Adding White as need to change the value. The background neutral was Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow, Ultramarine Blue just to gray down the color, then White to lighten.