Penny Jar and Book

The subject I painted this last couple of weeks is titled, Penny Jar and Book.  I was interested in exploring the textures and tonal ranges of the pennies, glass and leather books in combination - the browns and black and copper and tan.  While painting, I mulled over the connections between the acquisition of money and the acquisition of knowledge and how they're also intertwined.  I am currently reading a book called Painting for Profit: The Economic Lives of Seventeenth-Century Italian Painters by Richard Spear and Philip Sohm. In it, the authors examine how artists actually made a living in the 17th century - what they charged, how they sought commissions, and the economic hierarchy and competition among artists - remarkably similar to what happens today in many aspects.

I'm often asked about my process, and thought I would attempt to illustrate this in today's post.

I begin by gridding my photograph with thread, which corresponds to the grid I draw on the canvas.  Drawing is my first step into the work.  I've never been tempted to trace from a projection, because for me, this renders the line lifeless. 

I usually start painting a focal point, trying for accuracy of tone.  If I can get the tone right in that first area, then I know that the values will be right in the rest of the painting. 

The mud of paint - it has both a solid and fluid quality.  It took me years to learn to mix the colours I want -the tone, the colour and intensity that corresponds with my vision of nature.

I work area by area.  After 25 years of practice, I can be accurate with the relative lights and darks which give the rich chiaroscuro that I wish to achieve. 

I'm still interested and surprised by the look of objects, and the way light informs shapes. 

It gets exciting when the elements start coming together - this is when the illusion of space starts to happen. 

I'm trying to reproduce the tone and shape of things without too much detail - to paint light on objects, not the objects themselves.

The dark background - not pure black, but grey, purple and brown, with lots of brushy variety - unites the range of tones and completes the illusion of space on a two dimensional surface.