Glassybaby Oil Painting

"Joy Glassybaby"
2012
oil on canvas
8 x 8 inches

Hurray! I finished another oil painting today.
Compared to how few paintings I've managed to complete over the past 15 years or so, I'm feeling quite prolific. :)

This was another still life painting that I started a few weeks back, after finishing my Raggedy Ann painting. I've had about 2 half sessions (maybe an hour each time) and today's full session (about 3 hours).

The subject is a glassybaby. I love these colorful little vessels, and I thought they would make good subjects. I may try to do a series of them.

It's a smaller piece at 8" x 8", which I thought was appropriate, given the size of the subject itself.

It's funny - it seems like it would be a simple thing to paint, but of course, it turned out to be quite the challenge. It's glass, so it's reflective. It's basically symmetrical, and the color changes constantly, depending on how the natural light is changing.

My instructor, Dean, has really been teaching me so much. He is able to see things (like colors or lines) that I'm not able to see initially. He's helping to teaching me how to "see" better. That's a huge component of art, I think, and I'm so fortunate to have such a talented instructor!

Once again, I took photos of the different stages of the painting. It really is helpful to see all the stages that the painting went through. It's basically a different painting each time.


Day One


Day Two


Day Three - the completed painting


the still life set-up