Green Vase and Boy With Dogs Figurine - Still Life

I've been working on a large night scene of Noyo Harbor recently and whilc I was waiting for passages to dry I decided to start a new still life.  I found some small branches just outside my studio and arranged them around a green vase that I haven't painted before.  I found it last summer at a yard sale.  I needed something more on the right side of the painting,but I didn't have any grapes or flowers right at hand.  I did however have a little figurine I had purchased at the thrift store recently while hunting for still life 'props'.  What the heck...I plopped it in.

I other words, I didn't take my time and carefully set the stage before beginning.  When will I learn to slow down that rush to get the brush moving?  Because of that, I spent extra time as I went along composing on the fly.  And because I spent several painting sessions on this, when most of my still life paintings are done in one or two sessions, my plants keep dying and I had to keep replacing them!  A moving target, in other words.  But while my start left something to be desired, the painting began to come together after a while.  I was determined to see if I could do something with it, and I feel like I did OK.   In fact, I do like the figurine, even if the little boy and his puppy friends seem a bit out of place.  But then, it's good to keep in mind Norman Rockwell's statement that whenever his painting was not going well, he put a puppy in it.  So I'm just following the Master!!!

A fun experiment.....and darned if I don't like the painting. 

Green Vase with Boy and Dogs Figurine   12" x 16" Oil on stretched linen canvas

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My Art Site: Bruce Hancock Fine Art

Oranges Brass Bowl and Wine Bottles - Still Life

 I'm very pleased with the subtle values in this still life.  I had painted it about a month ago, and while I liked the darker values, it always seemed dull to me.  I couldn't quite put my finger on the problem.  I didn't want to brighten the entire painting, even if I could figure out how to do that.  Yesterday, I added just a bit more color and modeling to the oranges and I repainted the placemat, making it lighter.  Both changes introduced a bit more light into the composition, but didn't completely change the subdued feeling, which I liked.

Also, this painting was photographed with my new Nikon DSLR and the image is straight from the camera via photoshop Elements.  Other than cropping, the image is exactly what I was able to capture with the camera....and it is a very accurate representation of the painting.   I'm beginning to get a handle on using the camera...a Nikon D5300.  It's an entry level DSLR, but loaded with features and manual settings that permit me to get this kind of shot.  I'm thrilled with it so far. 

Oranges and Brass Bowl with Wine Bottles   12 x 16 oil on panel 

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My Art Site: Bruce Hancock Fine Art