I've been eyeing these blue bottles to paint for a while. I thought (briefly) about trying for accuracy and carefully drawing out the shapes before colouring, but being impatient and lazy, went straight in with the brushes, starting with very pale washes and building them up. The light, shapes and reflections changed constantly so I built up far too much, not leaving enough of the very light values in the glass. I was going to leave the background almost white, but felt I had to explain the brown shapes in the bottles, so bunged the door frame and brick paving in at the last moment, then regretted it.I found a link some time ago on someone's blog on my list, to another blog where he gave some very good advice about painting glass - something about having three values, I think in a certain proportion - and it didn't much matter where you placed them, but if you did that, it would look like glass. And now I can't find either of those posts, so if anyone who reads this knows about that, I'd appreciate the link back again.
Posts
6 comments:
I have several blue bottle I'm "saving" too! Weird. I think the brown was a very good idea; a contrast to the blue. And I like the way you achieved a very brittle feel with the glazing and cool blues. (PS In my post today I link to a still life duos project on WetCanvas--check it out: this could your first entry; it fits the project perfectly!)
I wish I knew where you read about glass! I read good advice once too: forget it's glass--just paint the shapes and colors you see (though that can get a little out of hand with me!).
I like the brown, too, and I think the 'explanation' is fine. It is wonderfully well painted. There is a funny uneasy feeling ... Did you intend that? That's not a criticism, by the way.Great to get a different mood.
Laura - the duos project sounds worth a try - I've belonged to WetCanvas for ages now, but have always been overwhelmed by the options available there and never known where to start - so thanks for that suggestion (I couldn't get to it from your link,?, but found it eventually!)
Vivienne, I'm astounded by your insight - I felt such un-ease, if not downright black-moodiness, whilst doing this, not sure why (change of seasons?/Mugabe?/melting North pole?) - how weird that you picked it up!
I thought I had seen this somewhere. Marion Boddy-Evans has notes on her site. You could try
http://painting.about.com/od/paintingforbeginners/ss/PaintingGlass.htm
hpI think these are gorgeous. I love all the shades of blue and I think you handled the whole thing really well. Glass is hard to paint, I've given it a few tries and never been quite satisfied. But you did great.
It works brilliantly - I love the tension that the two bottles seem to show. The free-hand painting is just lovely. Oh, and I agree with everyone else, the brown DOES work!
Post a Comment