The Last Notes on Glass- at Least for Now

This is the last in our 2 month study of glass. Scroll down to recap most of the "GLASS" posts.
Everyone in class is more confident and certainly more competent in an area that seems to mystify beginners. The basics: a key to glass is CLARITY; you have to be able to see through it for it to read as glass, and
Strong, hard highlights and strong, hard accents (the darkest marks) are key to communicating the hardness of glass.

Painting Cut Glass

Well, unlike any other kind of glass - cut glass is not clear but it does share with all glass some specific qualities, those being the hard, strong highlights and hard, dark accents. This is where standing by your method will be the only thing that saves you. Go for the SHAPES- and in this case I first painted the little pitcher as a mid-value shape, then broke up that shape into smaller shapes of light and dark, leaving room, value wise for brighter highlights and darker accents. The colored brush on the inside of the pitcher is used as device to hint at some clarity characteristic of glass; and I faked it a bit to better communicate. The red I actually saw was very obtuse. Here, I fall back on my first rule of any still life: it has to communicate to the viewer. The short hits of red suggest that the pitcher has some clarity (as opposed to being opaque) and that the brush inside extends to the bottom.
In class, we all agreed that cut glass was the hardest subject in the glass category; the brush was fun tho'.

Class Notes on Colored Glass - What?

Two takes on colored glass. Key in both is the clear factor. Unless the glass is opaque you still have to be able to see through it. What stumps the beginner is how to make the glass look clear and still show the color. The painting on the top is probably closer to reality but the lower one also "communicates" colored glass with out the color inside.
Personally, I believe that communication is one of the primary, if not THE primary function of the painter, right up there with expression, so I am willing to go with simply communicating the subject. Any more explanation can be beautiful - or just redundant. They both work because they are both clear, shiney and show some color in the glass.
Stay tuned for cut glass.

Class Notes on Painting Glass

For the next few weeks in class we will be taking time to focus on glass. First, clear glass, that being the simplest. I love to paint glass and take a less-is-more approach that allows the eye of the viewer to fill in the blanks. The clear bottle at the top is only visible because of its highlights and that's the key to clear glass - it has to be clear. Shading on the inside, darker or lighter, makes the glass look dirty or even take on the appearance of something that is ceramic. Add a strong highlight and it will look shiney but it won't be clear glass. The painting below deals with colored glass; more about that later.

Class Notes, - Colored Glass- What?

Two takes on colored glass. Key in both is the clear factor. Unless the glass is opaque you still have to be able to see through it. What stumps the beginner is how to make the glass look clear and still show the color. The painting on the top is probably closer to reality but the lower one also "communicates" colored glass with out the color inside.
Personally, I believe that communication is one of the primary, if not THE primary function of the painter, right up there with expression, so I am willing to go with simply communicating the subject. Any more explanation can be beautiful - or just redundant. They both work because they are both clear, shiney and show some color in the glass.
Stay tuned for cut glass.

Class Notes: Apple - the new Pear

This composition, similar to the one below is basically a pyramid, one of the most simple and time honored compositional ideas - ever. Except this one is allowed to escape the picture plane creating a less formal feel to the entire still life. For the sake of variety a couple of the elements have changed. I got a little burned out on pears last spring and tho' I have never been as fond of painting apples I think there is much to be squeezed out - and that's not just juice.
I have noticed how, when confronted with familiar objects the tendency is to paint what we think we know, as opposed to really looking to see that thing as it really is. In this sketch the apple "breathes", while the one below looks like a shape that was cut out and pasted on.