This past week I’ve spent some time working on my final still life for my Painting II class where we are exploring the balance of a successful composition and the use of local color while still using color as value.

I began this painting using a ruler as a guideline to create my composition and to figure out a rough placement of where each of my objects would go. Then, I started experimenting with color and mixing the darkest values in my composition and building off of my piece from there.

From my initial layer of color, I noticed right away that my construction of forms (the tea pot and the pear) were inaccurately proportioned to the rest of the piece. Some of my hues were inaccurate as well (teapot) which I adjusted in the later picture.

While I do not feel that the piece is quite finished, I feel that I’m at a strong point in my composition that another person could view it and understand the relationship in perspective between the subjects and comprehend that it is a still life.