I have finished this white orchid painting tonight and I’m extremely happy with the results. I’m so glad that I spent more than just the first session on the painting.
Tonight I had to go back into the black areas and and “oil out” a bit to get rid of the dull areas that have dried as they are very distracting and don’t show the correct values for the paint. There are still some dull areas but as soon as I apply some retouch varnish to them the dull areas will go away.
I haven’t spent this long on a still life in a few weeks, and I think this is the first time I have spent this long on a still life from photo. Of course the only reason why I was working from photo is because I had already painted this subject and I took the photos but even then it is still a different experience.
I do think that I can improve paintings with photos in some cases. In the future I may spend time with a painting from life then see if I can improve it from photo. With this day when technology is taking over I think using it to my advantage is a good thing.
