Since
I have been working on landscapes for the past several weeks, it's obviously
time to talk about a still life again. This one isn't in an art show; I just
am fond of it. It isn't perfect; I would do the wood table in a different way
if I had a TARDIS* and could go back and rewrite time. But that would mean
crossing my own time stream, which would blow up a third of the universe, so it
will have to stay as it is. I can't change it now because the picture is already in a frame.
Doing a still life with glass is not as hard as it seems.
Making
the glass bud vase seem transparent was the primary temptation, er, I mean
challenge in this one. People get scared at just the mention of painting a
clear object with the background showing through. They shouldn't: mostly you
just blur whatever's behind the glass and throw in some highlights and a
reflection or three and you're there.
 |
| Still life with glass vase. |
The importance of the pastel painting's background
I made the background lighter in tone on the right hand side in order to balance the
dark shadow cast by the vase. The background is dark on the upper part so the
red rose would look more prominent. The heavy highlight on the nearest edge of the
vase leads your eye up to the rose, and corrects what might otherwise be a very
strong tendency pulling the viewer's eye to the left. And besides, highlights
are cool. The lighter area in the middle of the vase's shadow is the light
source shining through the glass, and is also meant to correct the pull to the
left.
Was
I thinking about all of this while making the picture? Of course not. Don't
ever believe art teachers when they tell you the artist thought of all this
before they started painting. The painter is just fixing the mistakes he makes
while doing the project. The successful works are as much a product of luck as
of anything else. You never see the stuff that doesn't work.
*if
you are not a fan of Doctor Who... well you just should be.
