Red and Blue still lives

I set up red and blue still lives at each end of the studio for the oil group on Wednesday. We’d been working on small images, mostly on wood panels since last spring. (So much more transportable when working outside in the landscape, and easier to complete in a session.) Everyone bought along bigger canvases for this painting session. I wanted to encourage more experimentation with the painting tools; using a knife as well as brushes (both hard and soft) to get the paint on.. Scratching out, using a cloth or even hands and fingers all provide for different marks and surfaces. Oil is such a versatile medium that it allows for enormous personal style.

I was inspired by a book I have had for some time; ‘Painter’s Progress’ edited by Ian Simpson of St Martin’s school of art. Doing a one-colour study enables practise in achieving all the subtle differences there are in a single colour range.
Our first step was to lay down a tinted undercoat in a mid-tone of the basic colour; red or blue. Then to spend some time mixing up quantities of colour on the palette with a good range of lights and darks.
With the whole day to work, some people changed subject after lunch while others preferred having the opportunity to spend longer completing their oil still lives.

red still lives

blue still lives