My Latest Still Life Painting (“Trash Panda #2”) & its Development
Trash Panda #2
12" x 24"
Oil on aluminum panel
Greetings Everyone,
Today in this post I once again wanted to share one of my latest paintings and its process in how it developed.
This work in particular I have found to have been very enjoyable and inspiring in that I’ve been wanting to incorporate more animals into my work. It is work like this that makes me wish I lived closer to a taxidermist, museums and even a zoo. In this painting I obviously have chosen a plush version of a raccoon to aid in the humor, but in the near future I hope to be able to work with the real thing.
So here we go!
In the beginning I started with a thin and quick imprimatura drawing with burnt umber. I then massed in the background to start defining its context. I added a little drying medium to the paint so that I could continue to work without having to wait.
Using some premixed value strings consisting of burnt umber, raw umber and ivory black I then started to lay in some of larger and darker shapes of the raccoon. At this stage I made sure to keep some tight control on the edges where it met its cast shadow. The reason being that I wanted to keep the shadows “open” as I was unsure of its value and temperature. I wanted to keep my shadows thin without risking too much build up by second guessing.
Now that I am at a stage where I have the painting completely covered, I now have a better idea and control as to how and where I wanted to take it. After working on the ground plane I decided to work my way up readjusting the thinly painted wall I worked on before.
At this point as I was reaching around the areas where the background reached the edges of the raccoon and its cast shadow, I made sure to keep them soft and remained aware of the transitions that reached away from the shadow.
Now that the wall was covered, I then at last I chose to rework the raccoon again. Still being very sunken in I then oiled out the area to revive the colors and refined some edges to bring out some of the details of the fur.
..Aaaaannd it’s finished!!
That is totally new to me, I've never tried or seen it here on Steem blockchain, it must be very different from paper and canvas.
I love the outcome, it's quite funny and you're right, there isn't enough humor in the fine art world these days. Keep it up, it's fun :)
@erikah Yeah it's still relatively new. I would say it has increased in popularity in the past 6 years. It is pretty smooth and very durable; in fact it is one of the most stable things you can paint on. The most common brand fine artists use is what is known as Di Bond. It's the same kind of material street signs are made of, so it is a little pricey. Thank you so much! :)
Thank you so much for the info. I had no idea about these things. I have to look it up, maybe one day I'm going to give it a try, who knows? Thanks again and have a nice day. 🙂
@erikah You're very welcome! :)
Love the whole concept of the Trash Panda and is so different. You have a great imagination which makes your stuff unique. Really enjoyed the step by step process and your thoughts on each stage.
@cryptoandcoffee Thank you so much! I really do believe there isn't enough humor in the fine art world these days :)
It look better with the MI theme playing in the background :)
It is funny, but it made me remember a not-so-funny incident I had with racoons massing up with garbage back in 2003.
I was a grad student in OU, at Athens, Oh and I lived in a university housing apartment with very strict rules about garbage disposal and recycling. We all did our best to put everything in the right place, but here come the racoons and one day papers were spread all over the dumpster area and Housing decided to fine every apartment whose number was on any doc or envelop spread on the parking lot.
WTF?
There was no way they would take that back. They did not think racoons could do that. Really?
Under threat of not getting my diploma if I did not pay the fine I ended up paying it, but that was the most stupid fine I ever got, and all because of these rascals.
Hi jameszenartist,
Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.
Very good elaboration on the process and it comes out with this beautiful work of art. Impressive!
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@alpharch Thank you so much! :)
I knew it would make it.
I totally love it, when I first saw the post, I looked at that trashbox and I felt its 3d, then I saw the post title - a painting.Oh yessss.
I specifically like the part you showed - first it is orange and then those dull real life colors and transitions comes slowly as after steps. Otherwise someone like me with no art knowledge would think - take a white board and paint with light colors only to obtain something like this.
Congrats on your curie :)
@vibesforlife Thank you! I'm really glad you enjoyed it :) There's more to come for sure.
I'll tell you something, I love to see explanations like these, that are detailed in the smallest part to show that drawing a picture is not as easy as it looks. The shadows of the bear was the most beautiful and realistic point, you detached yourself in this and you deserve some applause. Greetings friend
@iamsaray Thank you so much! I really appreciate the compliment :)