Eat Your Veggies!!!

This is the second installment in my series of BIG FOOD. I'm teaching an Acrylic painting class for the next few weeks and needed some fresh ideas for Still Life that I could set up in the studio and paint from. I was probably hungry at the time and the idea of food popped into my head and thus began the series.

I like this series for a few reasons.
1.Using the idea of enlarging the object forces us to take a good look at details, edges, shadows and reflected color. Taking in all of this information and transferring it to the canvas without getting too fussy and illustrative is my goal.

2.Composition and Negative space. Placement of the objects in the picture plane determines the negative space. Well yes, we know that, but working with students to build the still life and experiment with lighting reinforces the principles of composition. Moving objects around until the placement is the most satisfying and then figuring out how to add drama becomes part of the learning process for developing a good composition. Drama is usually achieved by experimenting with lighting from above, below, behind. In playing around with placement of our light source we immediately see that how we perceive color depends on the available light.
My favorite point in this lesson is when students first see reflected color, or color reflected from one object to another.
Suddenly a whole new world opens up!

more on this later........