Daffodils in a Vase, Oil on Panel, 12 x 9.5 inches
Currently at auction, click here to see more details
Yes, more daffodils!
This piece was painted live over two sessions. I’ve added recordings of the streams below.
Of course, being on lock-down at the moment means kids at home, and my littlest, who’s six, finds the studio especialy fascinating! He features quite a lot on the first stream.
You also get to hear our eldest doing his violin practice in the background half way through. This is how we live now, working, practising, learning together.
I’ve decided that it’s a great improvement. Many things are going to change once we emerge from lock-down, and one of them may be how we choose to educate our kids.
They are happier, more confident and are learning more quickly at home.
Plus they get to see a lot of Dad painting!
The videos
The first stream is the block in stage, from the first drawing out beginning to think the painting might actually work – I’m never sure of that until I’ve got the canvas covered.
I talk quite a bit about how I use Munsell to organise the colour space in the painting, to set up the value balance overall (the balance between the lights and the shadows) and hopefully to paint with more realistic and subtle colour.
In particular in this stream, I go into some detail about how I make sure I get the colours of the shadows looking right. Increasingly, I’m painting them higher value than they appear, so that I can get higher chroma into them.
There’s a close link between value and chroma that can really help your colour. It’s a current obsession and I describe that in the first video.
It means painting in a very narrow value range on the flowers – meaning that the value of the lights and the shadows are very close – but I think it results in more beautiful and life-like flowers, too.
This next video is the second session, refining the flowers and finishing the painting.
I left this one a little looser than I sometimes too, and am very happy with the result. I wanted those central three flowers to emerge from everythign else into sharper fcus, rather than working the whole surface to a similar finish.
And also, I think the brush mrks in themselves can add something to the piece. Their gestures can carry a level of meaning which is less literal, perhaps metaphorical.
Whilst we’re on lock down, I”m streaming live painting sessions (mostly of daffodils!) at 3PM UK time (1PM Eastern, 10AM Pacific).
I stream sumultaneously to facebook and youtube, click on whichever you fancy and follow or subscribe. I’d love to see you at the next one. Don’t forget to say hi!
Best wishes and thanks for reading,
Paul
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Hi Paul – I really love this latest painting of yours: it is gestural and gentle –
Regards, Lou
Thank you Lou!
Hi Paul, you are a gifted teacher and I thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. I have learnt “so much” about colour from you .
Of the countless “so called” teachers I studied under, not one of them was able to explain and demonstrate live, the subtleties of hue/value/chroma shift that occurs in a painting.
I have never been able to understand and accept the concept of “warm and cool” when applied to paints . You explanation of a shift in hue around the Munsell Colour Space I embrace .
Once again, ”Thank You”
Christopher.
Thanks Christopher. Yes, a lot of peole find the warm and cool concept too vague to be useful – as I did when I was at the beginning of my journey into colour. I did a good amount of warm and cool studies and can honestly say they didn’t teach me anything and just made me more confused!
Hi Paul. I’ve been following your 11:00am podcasts for the past 3 weeks.
I’m learning so much about meticulous still life painting and the Munsell Method.
I’m an Existential Art Ed Specialist, and Artist. I so appreciate your careful calm presentations. Connie
Thank you Paul. Best Educator ever!! Learning FINALLY,HOW to apply tints and tones!! Keep up your wonderful narrations. Connie, Milwaukee
I have to agree, I am really taken in but this recent painting, it is amazing and I will have to take the time to watch the live stream. I am really interested in your comments about school your children. I am a home educating mother of 4 children. There is a lot of information out there about home education, don’t let it bog you down or make you feel like you should do it a particular way as this can rob you of enjoying your children at home. Home schooling is a wonderful adventure that you won’t regret if you choose to go down that path. Best wishes.
Thanks Leanne. Yes, I’m taking a fairly free approach to it at the moment, being led at least partly by what the kids are interested in. Yesterday morning’s English lesson was mostly finding out about bees and bullfinches (we have both in the garden).
Sorry should be ‘by’ this.. not but
Should read ‘schooling’ your children, not school. Auto correct is sometimes a blessing and other times a curse – I should have re-read before posting.
Hah you should see my typing before I correct it 😀
Love the Youtube videos your posting. Makes me want to start recording my own process and put them on Youtube. Yikes!
hi all
Paul am so entranced, glass looks like ice, daffodils are like velvet sunshine ; )
Thank you so much!
Dear Paul,
First: Daffodils are stunning. Wow.
Second: I want to learn to draw, sketch realistically, currently was doing some research about how human see vs how to traslate it to paper. I found this very interesting post of yours: http://www.learning-to-see.co.uk/the-truth-about-looking
I’m really curious if you ever had chance to record a basic tutorial about how to learn to draw using these ideas or any other tips you have for begginers. Or will you be able to record one?
Thank you for sharing your knowledge, very kind of you.
Thank you!
I just reread that post, and whilst I haven’t created any new drawing exercises based on it, I do have this for you, it’s a sight size block-in approach that will help you look for relationships of parts to the whole. I leanred accurcy malmost entirely through sight size drawing practice, I think it’s very effective:
https://vimeo.com/230134829
Thank you very much !