Monochrome still life oil painting



Completed my monochrome still life oil painting yesterday which is my first painting from my Western Painting class in NAFA. Here is a recap of what I've learned and my thoughts. 


This is our still life setup. On social media, I always see art students gather around with their easel and drawing the subject from various angles. Being able to be in that situation itself was so fun for me. 

We first learned how to mix our own black using burnt umber, alizarin crimson and prussian blue. Not to brag but I think I did really well and I managed to get a black quite quickly, but that's because I did quite a lot of colour theory self-study on my own before I started art school. Then we had to fill our canvas with 50% tone of black... 


During this stage I got impatient because the canvas was so big and the brush you see in the photo was the biggest brush I had with me. We used a (small) cloth to achieve a smoother background and again I struggled with it. We were supposed to get a smooth background with minimum texture... And I think that requirement really triggered my perfectionists. My teacher said the picture of the right looks good and I told him I think it reflects my lack of patience. Whenever I'm painting, I often notice these 2 things which hinders my progress. Perfectionism and lack of patience. 


This is the first time I'm painting still life and I definitely learned a lot in terms of constructing the subject in life size! I like my teacher's constant reminder to not 'wing it' hahahaha. 




When people see my painting, I often get asked why we're 'wasting' this huge canvas to paint a black and white box, but through this painting I've actually learned so much essential skills needed for any painting such as:  

1. Understanding the use & purpose of underpainting 
2. Shadows and lights (tones) - I think the best way to study and get better at shadows and lights is doing it in monochrome as it removes the added complexity of hues. Shadows and lights are so important, so I'm always happy to be given any opportunity to practice. 
3. Construction - How to measure and proportion using our brushes 

I really like this painting. It's simple but dimensional and I love how the drapery turned out. My boyfriend said we can place it in his future office. Hehe. 


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