Still Life

Studies from Patti Mollica’s Book

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Because Patti Mollica works in acrylics, I bought her book How to Paint Fast Loose & Bold. Obviously, as a professional artist, she too focuses on values and shapes, and starting from big to small. Her book is valuable to me because I’m using acrylics.

In the book she demos one of her paintings (Stacked, 8×8), which I did on a 5×5 gesso panel, and a second time on an 8×8 canvas. She did an underpainting in burnt sienna (and generally uses Golden brand paints). I found burnt sienna (Blick heavy body) to be quite dark. For drawing the initial shapes, I used a charcoal pencil.

I’m pleased with my drawing — which you can see in my “in progress” photo — but clearly have work to do on brushwork and color mixing!

Below is the 5×5 version which I did first. The dark area in the lower right of the image is an artifact of my photography.

Pear Study

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Nothing special about the results of this study, which I found on Patreon… I used a glaze of yellow and satin glazing medium on top of the brightest side of the pear. Might as well use some of the features of acrylic painting.

Avocado Still Life: #PAINTCOACH Patreon

| cathmary1030

I’m a Patreon subscriber to PaintCoach’s account, and one of the still life project is to do an avocado. This work is done in acrylic. I’m happiest with the whole avocado. As for the yellowish flesh of the avocado half, I painted it thickly with a palette knife, and later applied a satin glaze mixed with yellow paint.

Persimmon Study

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This persimmon is from our tree (which has largely been picked over by now, by my husband harvesting, and by the local blue jays pecking at the fruit).

I held the persimmon in my left hand, looking down at it as I painted with my right hand. My goal was to paint the detail as realistically as possible. The primary pastel I used was one from Great American, called Marigold (585.0) I love the vibrant color — perfect for this fruit!

The photo is of the specific persimmon, but was taken afterward, and is rotated 90 degrees to the viewer’s left relative to the sketch.

Pear Study

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This study was done on Canson Mi-Tientes Touch paper, one from my Jackson’s Art sampler.

I like the contrast of the blue background with the orangey-yellow highlighted side of the pear. I don’t particularly care for the way the pastel doesn’t “fill in” the paper.

And since I did this study, I’ve learned that the pros often do underpainting for numerous reasons, one of which is coverage and a unified tone. I had thought that using toned paper in itself might be enough. It’s okay but it looks more like a drawing than a painting.

Espresso Study

| cathmary1030

Today I painted my espresso cup.

What I like is my color choices: I think they closely resemble the cup in “life”. I’m especially happy with the crema color(s). I’m somewhat pleased with the actual drawing of the cup. I am least pleased with my mark-making, especially with regard to the crema. Perhaps I would be better off using NuPastels or even pastel pencils to render the detail more finely.

Or, be more impressionistic in my painting, and use blurry strokes instead of trying to match the reference so closely.