Finished Work

It's been some time since my last post.  As you can see I made quite a few alterations in the composition itself.  My original had the still life sitting on a wooden box.  It just didn't work compositionally so I turned it into a stone shelf.  I love the chiaroscuro style and hope I didn't go overboard with the strong light and dark.  I am always remembering the rules about basic value patterns and that is--there should be three values, dark, middle and light.  By varying the proportional amount of area occupied by each value, it makes for a much more interesting composition.  In each case, the smallest area naturally becomes the center of interest (the garlic and onions).  The largest value area becomes the dominant value group (bottles, dark cloth, background, and under the shelf).  Middle value is the front face of the shelf, cloth in front, and parts of the balsamic bottle.  My challenge was the cloth.  Veermer is one of my favorite painters and his rugs are masterfully painted.  I was trying for the same results with the scarf drape.  My final step that I try to do with all my paintings is to put it away for two or more weeks without looking at it--then bring it out and have a "cold" look so I can see if there are any glaring mistakes that can be fixed.  I learned this from writers.  By putting the piece away and then reading it cold after a few weeks, this practice will reveal elements of strengths and weaknesses that weren't visible earlier.  If you don't have that much time, have someone else that you trust look at it.