daily painting titled Head of Garlic

Head of Garlic

16cm x 13cm (6¼"x4¾"), oil on gessoed card Painting status: SOLD
Daily painting for Thursday 21 August, 2008
Posted in Still life paintings
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4 Comments

Expressionnist realism. Poignant portrait.(The sky is dull this morning on Paris; It is raining... Continuously ). This striking painting is being food for thought.
Hi Julian I've been "lurking", checking out your blog for a while now and finally had to add a comment. I absolutely love your work. I've just recently started taking my painting seriously after years of dabbling. I find inspiration and encouragement from the blogs I've been looking at, especially yours. I am interested in how you set up your still lifes - lighting, etc. Do you set them in a box to get your dark backgrounds? Thank you for sharing your beautiful jewels! Georgina
Hi Georgina, thanks very much. This one was just set up on a high shelf (I tend to paint standing) near the window with a cloth?just out of picture?creating a shadow on the wall. The same set up was used for the Nasturtiums. I do often use a box if I want a very dark background especially if I'm further from the window where the light is more general. I use natural light 99% of the time.
Hi Julian: As you can gather from my email address, I am a pastelist and love painting still lifes. Especially fruits and veggies. The many colors and textures are challenging but you handle them beautifully. Most of your work is small. Any special reason? Of course, less space to fill might make it easier from a composition point of view. and you handle that problem quite well. I enjoyed the trip and I'm beginning to see the light!