I am nearing the end of this 24x36 inch painting. As you can see it will be going into a float frame. John White, a picture framer from Cape Elizabeth, made this one for me.

still life with pan of apples

Here is another image of my progress with this still life. Most of the underpainting is covered with some color. Chroma and value is what I will be fine tuning next. The wall paper will be the real challenge.

I have started to put in a light glaze of color to the underpainting. I am using a simple method of application called a "couch". I apply a few dabs of thick stand oil in the area I wish to paint and then rub paint thinner into the oil. (I use Gamsol mineral spirits.) This provides a nice slippery surface to work into and dries within a days time. The stand oil helps keep the paint conditioned and slightly fatty so that it won't crack over time. This is only the first layer of paint that I am putting on right now. This gives me an idea how close my colors are at so that I can tweak them later.

Here are two pictures of an underpainting that I have been working on. The first is an earlier stage of the process (showing the original under drawing in silver point) and the second is nearing the end of it. The value scale ranges between 4-9 (4 being darkest values and 9 being lightest values). I am trying my best at using the golden spiral as a compostion tool. It is a 24X36 inch painting. I don't imagine this one is going to go very quickly but you never know.