Contemporary realism artist Patricia Tribastone shares her inspiration and process for the still life painting “Roses and Copper” (oil, 20 x 16 in.).
By Patricia Tribastone
The still life painting “Roses and Copper” was inspired by the beautiful salmon colored roses that I found. While I am setting up a still life, I’m thinking about composition, values, and color relationships.
My process starts with the pastel pencil drawing in order to establish the composition and value structure. This is done from life by hand. It tends to be a rough sketch, just to familiarize myself with the image.
The next step is the outline drawing on the canvas. I used fine oil primed linen and a colored pencil to do the drawing. Though the construction lines are visible, I tried not to be too heavy handed in order that the lines would not show through the paint.
For the next step, I blocked the colors in on the white canvas, then brushed back the paint so that the edges were all soft. The reason for doing this is to unify the painting by brushing the colors into the background, and the background into the objects.
The next step was to start to refine the images. This step is slower and takes about a week, working on one area at a time.
The final step was to refine the painting, especially the flowers and vase, including some glazing on the flowers. I added the highlights at the end, then two coats of varnish to bring out the colors.
Additional Still Life Paintings
Connect with the artist at patriciatribastoneart.com.
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