Monday, May 12, 2008

White Rose Oil Painting with Lemons on Linen Panel, 12" x 16"

"Light from Above"SOLD


The light was perfect today in the studio and after taking a few days off for some badly needed R&R, I was eager to get back in the studio. I've taken quite a few pictures of the process used to paint this beauty so if you get a chance, come by later and check for a a link to my teaching blog to see how it was painted. Or just go directly there later tonight to http://www.musensbysusan.blogspot.com. It takes awhile for me to write the lessons out and so they don't get published at the same time as the daily painting post.
This painting took me the better part of the day. I was pretty focused when I did it and it shows. I used a cool light from above. This is tricky in my studio because I don't have skylights. I do have north facing windows, but they're not high enough to give me the kind of light I wanted for this piece. The concept was to have light pooling from above. I rather like the way it came out. Some of the underpainting shows through here providing a lovely reddish hue around some of the blooms. There is a differentiation of light on the vase that is hard to see in the photos. I've tried adjusting this in photoshop but I makes the contrast too harsh on the other lights. This painting fairly glows. It's the aspect of using various tones of grayes contrasted with cools and warms that gives it that lovely glow. Photos just don't do it justice and you have to see this one up close and personal to know how it looks. If anyone wants additional photos, just e-mail me by clicking on the envelope below. I'll do my best to provide some other shots. You can see the detail in the photo below.

2 comments:

JudyMackeyart said...

Hi Susan, You have a lovely blog and your paintings are wonderful. Thank you for posting your step by step lessons. I think I may want to try maroger medium one of these days.
Judy

Susan Martin Spar said...

Yeah, do that...great stuff!