New Still Life

After spending most of the summer working on painting figures, I've returned to my comfort zone--the still life.  I've had the port wine bottle for two years and finally decided it was time to showcase it in a still life.  The wine was wonderful and the trip to the winery in St. Augustine, Florida where it was purchased proved to be a well needed getaway.  I placed it with another bottle holding some remnants of balsamic vinegar.  These two objects provide the primary and secondary anchors for the onions and garlic.  What I loved to paint and always find as a challenge is drapery with intricate designs.

The set-up took about an hour before I finally had it the way I wanted it.   I work on smooth portrait Belgium oil primed linen.  After making an intricate drawing on paper, I transferred the image to my canvas board (11"X14").  Using charcoal, I refined the drawing and then sprayed it with fixative.  This takes about ten minutes to dry.

From here I laid out my pallet of grays with 9 values including white and black.  Drying time is slowed down by using a slow drying medium.  Mine is one part turpenoid to one part M.Graham walnut oil.

It's been two sessions of approximately four hours each and I think I am satisfied with the results.  Now the hard part, waiting for it to dry throughly before I add color!