Monday, May 19, 2008

Still Life with Stawberries I, oil on gessoboard

" Still Life with Strawberries I "
Oil
6"x6"
I have been working on larger paintings for two summer shows and neglecting my dailies! I miss the good feeling I get from finishing a little 6x6 and writing a post. What I enjoyed most about the strawberries was studying how they are structured..the surface pits, each with a seed...and how to capture that in paint without getting too knit-picky! I used a "wipe-out" tool to lift paint here and there, a very fast way to achieve some detail. I actually painted this in less time, too.
SOLD

You can enlarge the image by clicking on it.

8 comments:

theresamillerwatercolors said...

yum! these look really delicious! come back to geneva for visit!

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Hi Teresa, I was in Geneva in 1972, a college student traveling for 5 months in Europe. Those were the days! Thanks for visiting my blog!

ArtGirl said...

I love doinh strawberries...How on earth do you do that waffle weave? I would be totally lost!

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Hi Katie Mae,
Ahh, the waffle weave. Well, it is really just a matter of laying in the dark patches, then the lighter color..then going back with more dark patches, bumping up the lightest areas, kind of a dance of back and forth. I also take paint off with whatever shape tool I need for effect (painting knife, wipe-out tool, brush handle, finger, etc.) Always, I put down the darks first..if you put the lights in first you will lighten the darks where they meet. The darks are thin paint, the lights progressively thicker. I think beginning painters are afraid to keep going and quit too soon before patches of other colors/values are added that give depth and texture. Click on the strawberries to see enlarged view and brushstrokes. Pretty loose and not all that detailed. I don't have patience for tight detail.
You can always wipe paint off if you go too far. I let some shapes go beyond where I want them, too, and then come back in with adjoining color to redefine (like putting sky holes in a mass of trees). Hope this helps. Thanks for visiting!

eLIZabeth Floyd said...

I love the deep, rich reds offset by the delicate light blues! Beautiful!

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Thanks, Elizabeth.
I have been using a new brush by Robert Simmons "Titanium". Love them. The number 4 bright is perfect for these 6x6 panels. After the block in I switch to sables (in order to lay on the deep reds, the sables don't lift the wet paint underneath.

Christine Mercer-Vernon said...

hi jennifer, i'm so behind on my blogs lately! this is just lovely, when i first saw it i was really blown away by those strawberries, then i saw the waffle weave of the towel....fabulous!! i love how you kept your brushstrokes so loose yet the painting appears much tighter, i know how difficult that is, yet you made it look so easy!!

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Thanks Christine, I do strive to keep loose, or at least the appearance of loose. I think what helps me along that path is that I have no patience to sit there and obsess. Not that I don't obsess in other ways.... I am also trying to use big brushes and their edges, sides etc instead of reaching for small brushes.