I’ve fixed some of the drawing issues in the block in and painted in the background and the red part of the handle. For this study I am trying Winsor Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oils. These paints are much less expensive than Royal Talens Cobra and Holbein Duo Aqua. I’m also using a Naphthol Red, instead of Cadmium and am finding its transparency makes it harder to get a full value range with decent saturation when painting on top of the dark underpainting. I’ve been adding a bit of yellow, in addition to white in the lighter values to keep the red on the warmer side.

This composition is interesting in all four orientations. I keep rotating it as I paint and haven’t decided which is best. I’m thinking this design will be really fun to do as a 48″ x 60″ painting.

Starting a new study, inspired by the success of the Diagonal Cutters. If the study goes well, I will do it as a 48″ x 60″ companion piece.

This study is 16″ x 20″ and at this point is just an block in with a thin wash of diluted paint. The black markings are vine charcoal notes from crit.

I’ve painted in the background and the shadows and added a bunch of small specular highlights. Overall, the larger painting size has been a good thing and made painting easier. The only challenge is that I haven’t been able to work wet into wet quite as much as I’d like because each painting session takes so long. As an example, I painted the green shadows one day and when I came back a few days later to do the yellow tabletop, the green shadows were dry so I couldn’t feather them into the tabletop. I will need to either do longer painting sessions or get good at touching up the soft edges after the fact.

My plan for the painting is to first repaint the red handles to better turn form and darken the form shadows while making the ends recede into the distance. Then I will, in one session, redo the green shadows and then darken the yellow background, while feathering in the penumbra where the green and yellow meet. After that the painting should only need small touch ups and a signature.

The 8″x10″ Diagonal Cutters painting was so inspiring that I started a 48″x60″ version! Initially the idea of painting such a large canvas was intimidating, but I found out that it is actually easier to paint on a larger canvas. I think part of the reason is that I can be very painterly up close and still enjoy a realistic image after stepping back twenty feet.

With the smaller 8″x10″ painting, I used tiny brushes and couldn’t really control the paint in the finer details.  With the larger painting, I can paint loosely with 1″ brushes heavily loaded with paint and still create an image that seems precise and realistic from a distance. The cool thing is that a close inspection shows giant strokes of thick paint with lots of color variation and texture in areas that would be smooth in the smaller painting.

Started a new study, 8″ x 10″.

The ice cubes are acrylic, but the limes are real. I love the glow of the glass on the left. In order to balance the composition I will probably have to make the knife blade and the lime wedge brighter than they appear in life.

A quick sketch with Burnt Sienna from the Royal Talens Cobra line of water miscible oils. I’ve been experimenting with these paints for the drawing in order to avoid toxic solvents. I find that I can paint a rough line and then push it around with a brush full of water.

I’m part way through finding the right values. It looks like I will have to make the lit part of the table darker in order to make the lime wedge and the knife pop. This will also make the shadows a bit less harsh.

Finally got around to painting some green onions …

I started another red and green onion painting – same setup, different view point. This design is much more interesting than the previous one and I find I’m getting faster and faster and better at soft edges. After I did the initial block in, Gary gave me a color lesson by way of a demo – he painted the red onion. Now I plan to finish the rest of the painting and then start another and see if I can apply some of what he taught me in the demo.

Red and green onions are turning out to be really good models. They don’t complain and the don’t spoil before I finish painting. These onions are almost a month old and still looking great.

Drawing with water-miscible Burnt Sienna. I’m getting faster and faster with the drawing and initial block in. Probably spent about 15 minutes on the drawing.

I painted the background and then Gary painted the onion as a demo. It was a real lesson in chromaticity and the properties of Indian Red. The onion has a bit of almost every color on my palette.