Still Life with Orange

This term I’m taking painting. So far we have painted three still lifes of fruit. We started with a pear. Then we did an apple.

These are my finished pear and apple paintings before matting.

 

 I am using acrylic paints on bristol paper here. This is so we don’t freak out on our first painting because it on canvas and A BIG DEAL. This is just paper, so it’s no big deal, right?

I feel like my pear is a little bit avacadoey. But, I’m not complaining.

Here is how they turned out after the magic of editing and matting.

 

Darn flash!

 

And after we had done those, we did an orange. This one was supposed to be focused on composition. We were allowed to cut the orange up in any way we wanted to make an interesting composition. This is what I chose to do.

The painting is mostly done here.

 

And this is how it turned out. Not too shabby, even if I do say so myself. I’m pretty proud of it.

Here is my orange all finished up prior to matting.

 

I really like this painting and how it turned out. But, the really awesome thing is that that is not the end. It really is a magical thing that happens when you mat a picture or painting. It gives it a presence that it didn’t have before. And, in the case of matting, it’s an opportunity to edit the painting one more time, even though you thought you were done.

So, this is my final result.

That’s been painting so far this term.

Now we are stretching our own canvas and will begin this week on a still life of our own design.

I think perhaps I will do something like this:

This is one of our very first tulips. My son picked it for me today.

 

Today I am grateful for: Tulips, Art, Deviled Eggs, Fishing, and Naps