The Contemplation of Beauty

8x10 Trompe l'oeil 

Still Life and Hudson Valley Landscape

"I wist not what to wish, yet sure, thought I

If so much excellence abide below,

How excellent is He that dwells on high!

Whose power and beauty by his works we know;

Sure he is goodness, wisdom, glory, light,

That has this underworld so richly dight:

More heaven than earth was here, no winter no night."

--Ann Bradstreet excerpt from Contemplations

Still Life with Prudhon Academie

Drawing on board

Under-painting

Block-in first color layer

second layer

Final Layer

Simple new still life, my ubiquitous pewter pot (this is the third or fourth painting to feature it) and a Prudhon academie. Giving credence to the adage "well begun is half done"  I'm moving quickly through this painting, which is good because I have my next still life in mind already and I need to start it before cherries are out of season.  Its 11x14, I'm starting to really enjoy working smaller, mostly because I can complete them faster, which suits my ever-present readiness for the next painting (which in my head is always better than the one I'm working on).

Still Life with Vermeer

My most recent still life, so recent it might not even be done yet.  I'm having trouble getting a decent picture, because of all of the dark values, I'm getting a lot of glare.  The top picture is in better focus and has less glare, but because I put a spotlight right on it, the top figure looks brighter than the cloth, so the bottom picture is more accurate that way.  I'm going to fool around some more and see if I can get a better picture. But anyway, it is 14x18 oil on panel as usual.  The picture in the background is Vermeer's Christ in the house of Martha and Mary.

Place Setting

I should subtitle this one : "ellipses are hard to paint" Here is the still life I have going. I'm doing an entirely different set up from my normal work. It is in front of a window, so it's lit from behind, casting the whole scene in shadow. I have the underpainting and the first layer done at this point, with a lot of work to go. As I head into next week my primary focus will be getting my shapes right, and developing the airiness of the shadows. This is a neat challenge for me. 14x18