"Pumpkin Pie"

Here is my latest painting. I wanted to do a kind of Fall themed painting, something that would be good around Halloween and Thanksgiving. This is what I came up with.

This painting is an oil on linen, 24 by 18 inches.



Below are the notes I've taken while painting it:

Session 1 was basically the under-painting. I used transparent oxide brown for the whole thing. I think it turned out pretty well. The transparency of the pie dish comes through. You can tell what the various things are in the painting. All in all, I'm pretty happy with it. I may go in with a glaze of ultramarine blue to really darken up the deep shadows.

For session 2, I started on the pumpkins and the rim of the pie dish. I used terra rosa, cadmium yellow deep, cadmium yellow pale, cadmium red medium, transparent oxide brown, and a touch of ultramarine blue.

Session 3 saw a lot of changes. First, I laid in the background, a mixture of permanent green light, transparent oxide brown, titanium white, and a touch of ultramarine blue in the light areas.

Second, I worked on the pie dish. Here, I really struggled to mix the turquoise of the transparent glass. I mixed up all sorts of combinations of cadmium yellow, ultramarine blue, permanent green, and titanium white with no success. I then searched my paints to find another green. That is when I found viridian. I had never really used it before. However, I found that it was the turquoise I was looking for. I used that directly, and then some mixed with titanium white. It was perfect.

Lastly, I darkened up my darks with ultramarine blue, mixed with transparent oxide brown. I also added a light glaze of ultramarine blue to my wood areas. I may go in with another glaze of transparent oxide brown again, to darken things up and add a little warmth back in.

For session 4, I worked on the whipped topping container. I like the container because of its blue color, the compliment of orange. That works well with the pumpkins.

For session 5, I worked on the reflections in the table. It really made the painting pop. I think it might be done. I will sit on it a few days, and see if I want to change anything.

If you want to see the progress over time, use the links below:

Session 1
Session 2
Session 3
Session 4
Session 5
Final

Under-drawing

Here is the under-drawing for my new painting. This one has sort of been a long time coming. I set up the still-life, took some reference photos and was getting ready to put it on the canvas when I scrapped it, panicked, and had to reformulate the idea. I am happy with my second go-around, though. I think it has a nice fall theme. I'm hoping that I finish the painting before fall is over.