Class Session 4 - still adding color to Mermer

Didn't have any time to work on this outside of class in the last week. So... before class pic on the left, after class pic on the right (I had a little trouble getting the camera focused correctly, too.).







There's less detail now, but things are getting corrected. We learned about glazing in class, but I wasn't ready yet to start that step. I hope I get plenty of time to work on her this week. I want to get the shapes in her head sorted out and put texture back into the scratching post bit at the bottom. Then I can start playing with the glazes and that will help put the gray shadows back into her white floofiness and help make the dark background and her black fur a little richer.

I'm thinking about taking another six weeks of this class, too. Monday evenings, Mid-September through Mid-October. (But this painting should be finished by then.)

vintage teapot still-life composition?

At some point, I would like to do a series of still lifes, each featuring a piece of bright, vintage enamelware. But in my tiny little city apartment, I'm pretty limited with the settings I can use and the things I can throw into the picture.

None of the pictures below are the lighting I'd want use, but I was trying some things out early this morning and pondering options.

In the end, I'd really want the series to be about the bright primary/secondary colors, simple shapes, and the blonde wood.

I also like the idea that it's catching a moment before I sit down and enjoy a simple pleasure.

The cup and saucer belonged to my great-grandmother. The handkerchief needs pressing, but is one from my mother's collection of vintage handkerchiefs (which probably makes it more from my grandmother's era than hers). The teapot is a vintage find from online (not usable for tea anymore) that I loved at first sight. In my head, it belongs to my mother's era, so I have elements of three generations here.

But I'm not sure what to do with it.

I don't want it to be one of those still lifes that has random fruit/flowers/stuff in it that makes you think "WTF? What does that _____ have to do with anything else in that picture?" I also don't want it to be too crowded. But I don't want it to be too static or dead, either.

( Seeking tea-potty wisdom... )