Today was the penultimate meeting of my Still Life class. Next week we bring in all of the work we have done as a way to survey our progress. Afterward a small but elegant party to mark the end of our course


This is my still life class final project...

Oil 12 x 16

Its been a wonderful class.

My teacher is a master ! ..... and a very sweet and decent man.

One thing my teacher did was raise my standards.

What was 'good enough' before is not good enough now.
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I originally had a quite light background.

He told me to darken it so that the darkness level of the book cover would almost blend into the background. Why?

To increase the visual power of the contrast made by the light pages.

The drama created by any high contrast between the dark book cover and a light background would take the eye's focus away from the point of major interest...the book's pages and the way they lie upon the bowl.

I did a 'value study' before employing color so I could assess where the lights, darks and halftones were.

It isn't a very interesting subject by itself... but it's an exercise in careful observation.
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