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| "Delft Blue Teapot and Three Peppers" |
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| Still life setup |
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| John's demo painting |
Last Thursday night, I was happily back in John Murray's still life class at the Art League School in Alexandria, VA. I noticed that I become slightly depressed when I am not in an art class for a length of time. The camaraderie and stimulation I get from the gathering of fellow artists, plus the instructions from a teacher, are an elixir of my artistic life!
John did a quick demo to show the class what to aim at: do not draw an outline of objects and fill it in; instead focus on establishing light and dark shapes with big broad strokes. It was both inspiring and discouraging to see him whip out a gorgeous sketch in fifteen minutes. As I jokingly grumbled, it was easy for him, but not for us!
I chose to paint the beautiful Delft blue teapot he brought from his studio, along with red and green peppers. This term I decided to crop and paint in small formats, perhaps two during a class, instead of trying to paint everything in front of me on a larger canvas, to learn more about composition, color mixing, and such by doing small paintings.
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| My own still life setup |
So, after the critique session, I set up my own apple arrangement for the remaining half an hour. It was, unfortunately, a rainy night, with thunders cracking ominously. Everybody was eager to go home. Under the circumstances, my second painting turned out ho hum. I tried to work on it on the following morning; it didn't go anywhere. I started another based on the photo above. It was even worse than the first one.
I had the wisdom to walk away. On the way to the ice-skating rinks, it occurred to me that the exercise painting was not worth all the fretting. Upon my return, I wiped paints off both panels. It felt great! I sometimes try too hard. I am learning to let go and enjoy life more.
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