We did paint the teacups.

Our first still life class, Fall 2024.

Still life set up. Trying out different ideas. I love the direction in photo 1, all the pattern play. Also enjoy the straight forward presentation of the cups on a simple background. I considered having to paint this in front of the students. In a reasonable amount of time. Photo 4 wants to be the demo.

Warm up. On scratch paper, draw a lot of elipses, fast. Sketch. I made rectangles to help with the elipses.

Painting warm up. I have a new brush! I did this warm up with it, on the back of a failed painting, on the same kind of paper I will use for my final painting. Getting a feel for using the the tip of the brush, pushing down into the belly, lifting up, and drawing lines. Then I spent a moment on the flowers. Figuring out how I might achieve a fresh mark. My goal is to make marks that say “ flower”. What I want to avoid is using my brush to “fill in” a flower shape.

Demo Practice. I used the Notanizer App to a create a Notan; translating the color photo into only black and white. This helps to see the composition of the shadow shapes. Painting. The mid tones first, using burnt sienna and cobalt blue to create a neutral grey. I used that same mix with a bit of viridian for the background.

My final draft. I could make that bottom cup darker on the right side…wonder about more color in the background? At this point it’s good to walk away and revisit tomorrow with fresh eyes.

A smattering of the student’s teacups.