This is a classical still life that I did in a David Gray workshop. The idea is for peaceful minimalism rendered from life over a period of five days in a very controlled and multi layered approach. It was incredibly slow and labor intensive, as befitting a more meditative and zen style of atelier painting techniques. For example, the white sea shell alone took about 7 hours to finish. I learned so much from David. He was a generous and thoughtful teacher.
When I finished the painting, I wrote down about four pages of things that I learned doing this. Everything from oil technique to mustering patience in working towards a precise result.
While this is a realistic painting, it is not meant to be photo-realistic. The decisions of which edges to soften and harden, which edges to lose completely, which colors to emphasize, which details to omit and which values to exploit, the composition to direct the eye and control focal point were just some of the decisions that artists must make when confronted with painting from life. Pretty complex!
I will definitely continue to create a few classical still lifes along with my more ala prima approach.
