It’s Over. We’re Done.

It’s over.  We’re done.

That’s exactly how I feel about this painting.  I’ve been staying true to my commitment to paint daily–at least if it’s just for a little while–and to focus on studying color through still lives–but me and this painting are done.  Over.  Adios. See ya!

I’ve worked on it over the past three days, and yes, as  a good student I learned quite a few nuggets.

For one–light.  Light changes pretty dang quickly if you are depending on using natural light.  So each time that I worked on it–even though the objects were still placed the same–depending on the time of day–the light coming through my window hit the objects differently–creating an entirely new still life actually.  So that was a bit frustrating.  This painting is the combination of three different lighting schemes in a sense.

Second, I learned that when I paint smaller–I take shorter breaths.  I’m so used to painting bigger–and moving around–really getting my body into it–and I had to remind myself to take deeper breaths as I painted.  Doing so made a huge difference.

Third, I learned that I’m really interested in relationships between colors.  When I paint, I’m always looking at the relationships between one color and the colors next to it–and as I do that–the painting begins to reveal itself to me.  That’s been really fun to watch and participate in actually.

And fourth, well, I just learned that it feels really, really good to be exercising these skills again.  It feels good to be stretching myself–and pushing myself.  This painting was definitely a push.  That plate was a pain in the ol’ rump roast to paint–especially since the reflections were different each time I came to the board.  But I wasn’t on the quest for a perfect painting–or even a perfect representation–I’m staying curious–interested–and excited to learn more about just painting.  Putting brush to canvas–mixing colors–and making this a daily commitment.

Now onto still life #5 tomorrow!