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| Dennis Cheaney "Green Heirloom Tomato" , 2010, 4"x4" |
There are numerous ways to paint. For my 4 inch x 4 inch paintings I like to work alla prima on a white support (oil-primed linen adhered to board). Here is a seven step procedural outline on the creation of my painting.
Step 1: Make a quick drawing with burnt umber and mineral spirits.
As I was composing on the canvas, I had to discover what size and placement of the tomato I liked. Notice that the tomato was drawn in twice. The larger outline filled the panel quite nicely but didn't leave room for the folds of the drapery. Later, however, the folds were removed.
Step 2: Put in the darks and cover up the white of the canvas.
It is difficult to see all the values and colors against a white canvas. It is helpful to get rid of the problem by quickly filling in the background and foreground.
Notice that the paint sometimes overlaps the contours of the tomato. With alla prima painting, I like to rediscover the contours by shaping the wet paint.
Step 3: Mass in the forms of the tomato.
Start with the darks and progressively add lighter mixtures. The tomato in nature is rounded and the painting should clearly show the general gradation on a rounded form.
The paint is opaque. I like to have enough paint on the canvas to cover an area as well as a little extra. This extra quantity of paint allows itself to be pushed around on the canvas and reshaped as needed.
Step 4: Complete the mass-in and reshape the contour.
The tomato has been completely massed-in and the paint reshaped in order to better express the tomato's surface. The contour has been more clearly defined.
The end result is that the paint layer of the tomato is a little rounder and smoother than it was in the previous step.
Step 5: Reshape the background and foreground.
The paint of the background drapery has been reshaped and in the process the paint ridges have become less prominent.
The smaller forms of the foreground, which appear as little bits of light and color, are put into the wet paint.
Step 6: Place in the smaller forms of the tomato.
The small forms of the tomato are light and give extra specificity to the tomato's form. The highlights are placed in. They appear sharper and lighter than the other parts of the tomato.
I felt that the background drapery distracted from the tomato. I readjusted the still life arrangement and brushed out the background paint to match up with the light effect on the new still life.
Step 7: Place in the smaller forms and specific details.
This is the final stage. I placed in the remaining highlights around the tomato. I added the smaller forms and details of the stem and its leaves.
Once the whole thing was painted, I was able to adjust the wet paint to appear as sharp or as subtle as what I was looking at.
This is my standard process and it took about four hours.