Assignment 2

Instructions: to demonstrate an understanding of colour, tone, composition and the development of technique in the chosen medium. Two choices available:1. to set up a still life in the corner of a room or table - somewhere giving a surrounding context - this being my own choice. My medium of choice: acrylics.
I often find the organic forms of fruit and vegetables fascinating, but any I've drawn or painted up to now  haven't quite materialised the way I would have liked, so I decided this was an ideal opportunity to have another go.
I thought back to the brief for the still life with natural objects and where the suggestion was made of peppers being an excellent subject. Partly because of this, I put them to the top of the list and because having drawn peppers before, i find they have so many interesting facets. A bunch of scallions, leeks and a lemon found their way in as well and seemed to complement one another well in so many ways, in the following arrangements:

painting part finished

I tried a few variations in the arrangement before embarking on the first (rough) sketch which focuses in on a relatively small area, where most of the detail is contained. I decided against this view, as part of the brief asks to place them within a surrounding context and I don't think it was fitting with that. To some extent  I seem to have got into the same habit with several previous still life compositions, looking back at them now  - it was time for a change. Opening up the view, making use of a larger view of the surroundings was taking me out of my comfort zone as I hadn't been accustomed to doing this. I transferred the arrangement to an island worktop in the kitchen, rather than in front of a cupboard door as with the previous arrangement. Now it was placed in the right context (a kitchen) with a view beyond to the work surfaces and objects in the background. In the second sketch I depicted this as basic shapes and angles and simplified the view with generalised variations in tone. When I stood back to check the sketch I liked the combination of relatively geometric planes and angles of the hard surfaces with the organic shapes of the vegetables.
It was helpful browsing through some of Cezanne's still lifes, as I noticed some had a visible background but they weren't depicted an a literal way, bringing most of the spotlight  on the main subject.In my own I think  the perspective of the background angles also gives a look of spatial recession.
The initial layers of paint were practically scrubbed on thin and dry. They seemed to be sinking into the canvas as I was painting. This I concluded was most likely due my not having applied sufficient gesso. The scrubbing technique emanated partly because I was wary of using too much opaque paint, especially in the early stages, as I didn't want to obliterate the tinted ground completely.

The lemon and pepper were relatively easy to do, particularly with the medium toned background beneath. The shadows and highlights were also quite plain sailing, as I had positioned dark and light paint beneath them before going over with semi opaque paint, so there was a luminous glow under the highlights and beneath the shadows.  This was not the case with the onion heads which too much longer to build up. Looking at them now I would say too much attention is focused on the central area - not really desirable in my estimation.
I think I went a bit overboard with additional shadows (violet transparent paint) on the lemon.
On all the objects I included the complementary of the main colour in the shadows and a touch of its main colour reflected onto the body of adjacent objects and their cast shadows, such as green and red in the cast shadows of the leek to the left. These appeared to work out quite well.
During the next session I had further trouble with the onion heads and spent a lot of time trying to get them to look convincing without chalkiness. I tried fairly dry paint on the brush in mauves (or violets) and greens but the result was lacking in substance. I also didn't  like the grain of the canvas showing through, this seemed to undermine the finish of them and the rest of the composition. I then tried thick paint in two tones, but the result was flat and chalky. Next I mixed some acrylic gloss gel medium with raw sienna and lemon yellow and used this as a glaze. With this I succeeded in removing the chalkiness and it also gave some variation and a slight finishing touch to parts of the lemon and leek. I added further touches to sections of the background. The appearance of depth towards this space behind the arrangement looked too separated,  so the addition of  yellow and raw sienna helped to connect it with the rest of the composition.
I did consider using cards to paint at least in part, but lost my courage. Perhaps I will try them for another similar subject. I know the effect will be completely different from a painting done with brushes.
Unfortunately I overlooked my tutor's suggestion on this occasion of trying to mix a palette from a painting that I aspire to, but it  sounds well worth doing, so I will try to do that at the next opportunity.

A cut off portion of some colour tests
and studies. I later discovered
there was a problem with the computer/scanner, hence
the other two images didn't materialise

Later adjustments

Following suggestions from my tutor I:
sharpened the angle of the chopping board making it more acute (bottom right),
altered the lemons' surface, the surface of chopping board and
darkened the background.

Finished for now? - this photo isn't as clear as the one above,
it looks more faded out.

I prefer the angle of the chopping board now, it seems to have the effect of causing the nearest corner to project outwards from the picture plane; dark shadows added underneath help to accentuate the angle further, balancing up the dark space in the background. I added more contrasts to the surface of the board which brings more focus to the area. These elements in combination have effect of throwing the arrangement into dramatic focus adding dimension and depth, whereas the whole area underneath the arrangement previously looked rather wishy washy. 
I added touches of tube consistency System 3 acrylic to the body of the lemon (cadmium yellow/white) without much blending to help give more texture. I would have liked to bring this out more but was afraid it may look out of place against other parts of the arrangement; in the sense that the paint would have a different finish.

Completed version after adjustments

I scrubbed on and glazed paint in the background, - ultramarine, sap green,  phthalo green, alizarin crimson and raw umber mixes - plus white - added to a strong black band down the centre acting as a distraction. I left hints of the existing warmer greens visible in part of the background as they seem to pick up the similar greens in other parts of the composition.