Dear Subscribers,
 
Greetings!
 
New still-life. Sometimes simple is nice.
The setup:

 
First stage:

 
Next stage. After the umber drawing I paint this with a palette knife. With a knife my approach becomes slightly different. I start slathering on plenty of paint to work the vase with...knowing i'll be smearing in more paint later. I don't want the blue to dominate, so I just think of the vase as a very dark mass:
 

 
Next stage:

 
Next stage:

 
And the finished painting, "Binary" (8x10):
 

 

(Click through the image above to get to the Facebook "Like" button!)
 
I've shown you failed paintings in the past. I think it's important part of painting.
Let's just give this an official name. How about:
 
The Fail Log.
Two botch-eriffic entries this week.
I decided to embark an a little exercise. Painting still-life from imagination! It's an exciting idea, being completely free and not being limited to objects that I have acquired. My eagerness got the better of me: As in 99% of my past failed paintings, the following two were doomed due to lack of planning... AKA laziness.
 
 
 
For this one (20x16), I thought a giant bell would make an awesome subject. The first iteration of the base started to remind me of some strange giant cash register bell, I thought that was funny. I like the placement of the bell, but I didn't really think through the foreground objects, just sort of decided to see what happened.
 
  
 

 
I wiped it out soon after this. I'd started to establish that pool of light near the blue bottle and then directionless floundering ensued. I made the mistake of not having a totally clear mental vision of the final product before starting. Also the bell wasn't a great shape.
 
And another. This one painted with a palette knife (8x8).
 

 

 

 
I'd vaguely planned to have a bunch of grapes and another tangerine on the left side, but once again didn't have a clear vision for the overall composition. Oh when will I learn? The result is a neat-looking half-a-painting. Wipe.
 
Two wipes in a row. There are definitely worse ways to spend two days, but I would have been better served to spend an entire day thinking and carefully planning a composition before putting any paint down.
 
I'm still intrigued by the possibility of still-life from imagination, but without anything physical to fall back on, planning becomes especially important.
 
 
Still life class update. A bunch of student work!:
 
  
  
  
  
 
  
  

 
Currently being shipped off to R.S. Hanna Gallery:

"From North Beach to the Pyramid"
 
JUST SOLD!:

"Shroud" at RS Hanna Gallery
 
Until next week,
 
David A. N. Cheifetz
www.davidcheifetz.com

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