Diana K. Gibson

This still life is currently in progress and it is my first endeavor to truly break away and do something quite different from my past work. Instead of pounding away at a piece and trying to finish it alla prima, I have slowed down considerably on this one and have taken much more time to analyze the subject and painting. The finished painting turned out pretty well if I may say so myself. :)

Sometimes I find that setting up a still life is the most complicated part of painting. Trying to find the right combination of textures, colors, surfaces etc. can drive me bats. Then there is the composition. For whatever reason I have a tendency to keep my compositions simple. Perhaps there is beauty in simplicity, who knows. Well once all of the still life objects are set up and a pleasing composition is arrived upon, I work to set up the easel. A toned linen canvas is placed upon the easel and the palette is prepared. Time is taken to prepare the palette and as you can see in the pictures, lots of paint is mixed. After the palette is prepped, a rough sketch is made upon the canvas and once the drawing is place then the painting process begins.

Alla prima is a painting technique that means "at first." An artist completes a painting in one sitting. This grouping of photos shows how I start an alla prima painting. I first prepare my palette by laying out the colors according to their value (degree of lightness or darkness.) Once the colors are laid out I start to mix piles of colors. These piles of color help me to cover the canvas quickly. I always make it a point to take the ten minutes to prepare my palette ensuring that I always have enough prepared mixed pigment available. Time is of the essence and I find more time is lost trying to remix or reclaim a particular mixture of colors. Ergo, the desire for a prepared palette. The painting is started with a rudimentary drawing. Thereafter with a loaded brush, the shadows are massed followed by the addition of the light masses. I am extremely careful to keep my shadow brushes separate from my light brushes. That is a few brushes are strictly designated for paintin...