Oils workshop - still life pt 5

Underpainting

Finally onto the final painting. An underpainting of raw umber and turps was applied adding pigment and rubbing out to give highlights.  This was a fast process but helped by obliterating the white canvas but keeping the drawing. 

Some more street art. 

Oils workshop - still life pt 4

Colour Study -Demonstration

On day 3 we got onto a colour study.  Matt did a demonstration of colour for the group. I was fortunate that he did the demo using the set up I was painting. It was great to have an opportunity to watch someone very skilled go through this process and be able ask questions.  This is Matts study finished.  This he referred to as a poster study.    Trying to the colours right without fussing over detail.

Oils workshop - still life pt 3

Value Study

The next stage was making a value study on a small canvas (5"x7").  Used lamp black. Yes lamp black.  The first time I have used black when working in oils.   

Matt did a demo first so we could all see the process.

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Oils workshop - still life pt 2

Transferred Drawing

After drawing the set up in pencil it was photocopied 3 times.  Size was reduced to fit two small canvases and size was adjusted for the final canvas.  To transfer the image to the canvases the reverse of the photocopied image was covered in a raw umber.  The outline and key information was transferred using a pen on the side carrying the image.  This is what I ended up with. 

The photo below is a shot of one of the Harland and Wolff cargo cranes I took from my hotel room one morning.  There are two, Samson and Goliath.   Shipyard is most famous for building the Titanic.

The second photo is of the black taxi terminal in town with some eye catching murals. 

Oils workshop - still life pt 1

Subject

The scene doesn't look like much but I spent a whole week trying to capture it in oils.  As I mentioned before I went to an still life workshop for a week.  The workshop was part of the Draw In festival. Matt Weigle was the instructor for the course and it was a great experience.  Julie Douglas the organiser has a write up on the week on her blog.

First day was a set up and drawing day.  Shadow boxes were already set up by Matt and Julie and arranged so they each had a single light source.  Had to choose some props and arrange them.  Have to say I took Matts advice and kept it simple so I could focus on technique. Kept it dark and moody. Drawing was pencil on paper. Out of practice on that so I drew the set up three times.  Also marked in the terminator lines (change from light to shadow). 

Little fella

Little fella

After all the serious intense work of late did this just to relax and have a little fun.  Back to to the learning.

Roses After Abbott Handerson Thayer -Study

After Abbott Handerson Thayer - Roses

Choose this because of the palette and painterly quality.   A copy can be found on the Google Art Project site. 
I did a study of this still life for practice and to get me thinking about still lifes in general. I had signed up for a 1 week course of still life in oils.  A big investment for me in time and money so I wanted to get the most out of it. The course was followed by a two day drawing workshop all part of Draw in in Belfast.  In the next few post I will show some work and talk about what the experience was like.