With some recent trials in different materials I have taken a different approach to my still life painting. The difference is not huge but it’s there, mainly it’s a change in thinking.
Tonight I’m painting on actual stretched canvas, it has been a long while since I’ve painting on anything but boards. Mostly due to trying to save space but I couldn’t pass up trying these Centurion Linen canvases.
I spent a long time composing and drawing out this still life. Even though my iPhone takes horrible photos for this type of work I was still able to use it in composing. The great thing about using the iPhone for this is that the screen is the size of a thumbnail and the Photos app allows me to crop the image easily. If I could only blur the photo on the phone a bit to get rid of all the details a long with the color then it would perfect.
I also built a new shadow box, I don’t know why I didn’t do this earlier, the idea is so simple and easy. Just a few pieces of black foam core and some tape and I have a very nice setup, with the ability to control the light on my sill life in may ways. I’m so glad that Jana Bouc commented on one of my posts about her still life and showed pictures of the setup, it has been very helpful.
Here is a detail of a hand painted by Anders Zorn. I’m using this as an inspiration for this post in a reminder for me to keep it simple and to let the viewers eye do some of the work.
