“Sunshine Bowl” is of a copper bowl the we usually have on our mantle. We filled it an another larger bowl full of ripe lemons from a backyard tree. I am always surprised at the bounty of fresh citrus in the middle of winter. That is Southern California for you.
The painting is 20 x 16 inches done on my favorite support, linen mounted on hard board. I love the combination of rigidity and texture.
The background color is a subtle graduation from nearly pure Ultramarine to nearly pure Alizarin Crimson. Those two transparent colors laid down on dark base give a gorgeous deep field of cool to warm near-black. There are many other subtle color variations going on the background and in all areas of the painting. Unfortunately the background and some of the more subtle color effects cannot be captured in video.
I hope you enjoy this demo. Please let me know what you think.
Related posts:
- Sunshine Bowl – Video
- "Bread and Wine" – Painting Demonstration
- "White Mums" – Painting Demonstration
- Garden Shop in Les Tuileries – Part 2 of 3
- "Southwestern Light" – a work in progress part 2
- "Southwestern Light": a work in progress – part 1
- A Little Warmth for the Holidays
- In the Studio: White Mums – I
Great demo! Thanks for sharing it. Wow, those lemons look delicious. I think our readers will love the video.
Lisa
Beautiful work, Michael. Your demos are great and much appreciated. Typically, do you glaze in the color or do you use more of an alla prima approach?
Beautiful work and video. The music was supurb as well. How long did your painting take to do?
I am so happy you like the painting and the video.
LISA: Thank you for posting the video for your readers at artstudiosecrets.com. You are welcome to post my first demo, too http://michaellynnadams.com/2009/02/page/2/
CHERYL: I typically use every trick in the book that is appropriate for a passage in a painting. Generally that lighter the value the more opaque the paint. The dark areas are typically layers of transparent color. I like the variety of texture and color that that produces.
TERRI: Sunshine Bowl took about twelve hours.
Hi Michael,
Great video! Like I said before, I love your artwork. I love how you do shadows and lights and everything looks so real. Can I use this on my blog? Not sure how to do it but will try to figure it out.
Wow, 12 hours!
Dora
DORA: Please be my guest and use it on your blog. I would be honored.
I love seeing the colors evolve from the first wash to the last strokes of yellows.
It’s really a marvel to observe how other artists ” see ” and how that vision translates into a painting- a captivating and beautiful painting.
And great video. I’m not alone in appreciating watching it.
Is it your suggested reflection in the lower right of the bowl?
awesome micheal,
thanks for sharing!
i have a stupid question for u..no question is stupid i know…
i was wondering about the pencil sketch u made before starting to paint,did u use a fixative or something before starting to paint?
cause i tried in both ways and without using it i keep loosing my sketch,while using the fixative the paint i after stand on it doesn’t fixed well on the canvas…
could u pleae give a good tips?
Gio
GIO: Yes, I use spray fix over the pencil drawing. Don’t like to use canned sprays much, so I try to go light. I probably don’t really need it since the middle-tone wash often covers the drawing anyway, but there is a feeling of security just knowing that under drawing is there.
Dear Michael -
Thank you so much for posting this. I have watched it many times. It is wonderful to see the stages the work goes through – when that pale blue shine of light appeared on the bowl, it was a WOW moment. There appears to be a glow around the lemons that was added near the end, which gives the effect of them being bathed in sunshine. Was this difficult to add, given the dark background?
Thanks again -
Lindsay