Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Green Onions


Green Onions
16 x 20, oil on linen on panel
@the artist


I haven't been painting the small daily paintings for weeks, now - first, because my work hours increased (which is good) leaving me precious little time to paint ( which is bad). And secondly, I realized that by concentrating only on the small format, I risked losing compositional skills necessary for larger works.

"Green Onions" is on one of the linen panels I documented in an earlier post titled "How To Make Your Own Painting Panels." I really enjoy working on the oil ground, although it takes getting used to - it's not as absorbent as the acrylic grounds. At first I had a hard time with the "brushy" aspect of the first layers of paint, but I've been studying an excellent book by Bob Rohm, titled "The Painterly Approach," and I'm starting to understand how to use the surface to my advantage.

This painting underwent several major changes as I went along, including scraping off several red onions from the foreground. It will probably never venture out of my studio, but I enjoyed the learning process and will most likely paint a version of this composition again.

4 comments:

Ann Buckner said...

You worked your palette beautifully. Love the muted but very colorful work.

Karen said...

Love this, beautiful work,

Sue Smith said...

thank you for the feedback, it's helpful to know what is working. I was very happy with the color harmony and the composition, but I ruined this painting with heavy handed brushwork and not smoothing down paint ridges early on. This linen on panel had a rougher weave, and I probably should have used it for landscape work rather than a still life.

Marilyn Fenn said...

Ha! I love the brushwork! Nice and meaty, yet so glass-smooth on the bowl. It's a lovely piece.