Here is a painting that I just got started on yesterday. I am by-passing the value underpainting where you establish the values first. What I am doing here is certainly a faster way to go but can be more problematic. Not only do I have to concern myself with hitting the right hue and the saturation of the color. I also need to keep in the mind whether the values ( lights and darks) of the color are close to what I am seeing. If not, I will have to do some reworking. I am painting from the background to the foreground of the underpainting.

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.

Plate of Truffles (small work) 11x13 inch

This is a small painting that I had done after I had finished the Coffee Table painting. I really enjoyed painting (and eating!) these Godiva truffles. As I mixed up and tubed the paint for the paintings I didn't realize all the variations of color there are in Brown.

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Pluots (small work) 10x10 inch

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Plums with Tomarillo (small work) 9x11 inch

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