Paint a still life in oil
Adele Wagstaff completes the transition from drawing into painting using information gained from her previous studies and explains how to mix colours from a limited palette to paint a still life in oil
Adele Wagstaff completes the transition from drawing into painting using information informed by her previous studies and explains how to mix colours from a limited palette to paint a still life in oil
In this final part of the series we will look closely at colour mixing, and how we can mix a palette of subtle, warm and cool mixes suitable for our still life from the bright and saturated primary colours. In part 1 (April 2021 issue) a small still life of a shell placed on a music manuscript was the subject for a study of tone; in part 2 (May 2021 issue) tone and temperature were explored as we continued to move from drawing into painting. In this final step, the same set up, observed in natural light, is again our subject.
Colour mixing
The colour chart (top right) shows how it’s possible to mix a palette of mixed greys from primary colours.
The swatches were made by mixing cadmium yellow, alizarin crimson with white and complementary colours. It demonstrates the transition of saturated colours, mixed directly from the tube, to muted and subtle mixes. Little by little the intense yellows, oranges and reds transform to a range of mixes that appear more ‘earthy’ as we would expect to see if we added siennas, ochres and umbers to the palette. White was then added to each of the mixes to make the colours softer. The resulting mixes are closer to the range of colours required for the stilllife painting.
With careful mixing it is possible to
extend our colour palette considerably from only a few initial colours. Further mixing, with the addition of more complementary colour and white will continue to neutralise the palette even more, and create a range of beautiful, soft ‘greys’. If you look at the muted colours of Morandi’s quiet and meditative still-life arrangements you can see how his palette has been achieved by mixing together pairs of complementary colours and white.
▲ COLOUR CHART
Top row, left to right: cadmium yellow mixed with small and increasing amounts of alizarin crimson. From this bright, warm yellow the colour moves through darkening oranges to darker mixes of red.
In the second row the smallest amount of white was added into each pool of colour on the palette, which results in lightening and making each mix a little cooler.
In the third row, you can see how each of the mixes has moved away from the pure, saturated colours in the row above to colours that have been neutralised with the addition of each colour’s complementary colour: yellow with purple; orange with blue; red with green.
In the bottom row, white was added to soften the colours.
◀ Colour mixing on the palette
Here you can see a pale orange mix with the addition of white, being slowly adjusted to a neutral ‘coloured grey’. Moving from left to right the colour softens, as with each mix a small but increasing amount of ultramarine was added
DEMONSTRATION Shell with Manuscript
For each of the three oil studies made during this series, I used a gesso-prepared wood panel size 83113/4in (20330cm).
This composition had become very familiar through the painting of the two earlier panels. As the paintings are all of the same size, measurements can be taken from the other studies to double-check the placing of the objects within the rectangle. Distances from the edge of the board to particular parts of the still life can be used to check that the resulting composition is the same as on the two earlier panels.
▶ STAGE ONE
I drew the composition directly with a rigger brush, using a mix of the three primary colours on the palette diluted with Sansodor: lemon yellow, alizarin crimson and ultramarine. This made a dark tone, something close to raw umber, an earth pigment that I would normally use for underdrawing when using the extended palette
▶ STAGE TWO
Before beginning the process of looking closely at the more subtle colour mixes and tonality of the shell, the white of the surrounding areas was quickly covered to enable me to observe the lighter warm and cool colour contrasts within the shell. The darker warm surface on which the still life is placed was patched in, as well as the grey of the wall behind
◀ STAGE THREE
Once the large areas of white surrounding the still life had been obliterated, I turned my attention to observing the colours found within the shell. During the process of painting the two studies, the lights and darks were explored, as were the warm-cool relationships within the composition. A cool and brighter mix was laid-down over the surface next to the shell, a little cadmium lemon was introduced into the mix.
The first cool and warm pinks of the shell were added with minute amounts of alizarin crimson and cadmium red introduced in to the mixes on the palette, carefully adjusting their amounts for warm and cool. A rigger brush was used to pinpoint the outermost curves and angles along the edge of the shell
▶ FINISHED PAINTING
Shell with Manuscript, oil on gessoed panel, 8311¾in (20330cm).
The final few linear touches were made to the cover of the manuscript. The dark curves were picked out with a rigger brush, while the suggestion of text on the uppermost surface was achieved by the addition of small areas of colour placed with rapid brushwork
◀ STAGE FOUR
Before looking more closely at the variety of colours over the uppermost surface of the shell, the warm, darker tones within its depth were placed. Colours were also added for the covers of the manuscript, so the angles were checked and adjusted, with a lighter tone being used to clearly delineate the edges
◀ STAGE FIVE
As the entire surface had now been covered with at least one, if not two layers of paint, I began to look more closely at the subtle temperature contrasts of colour overall; areas of colour were becoming smaller as colours were observed more closely. Against the warm darks within the shell, I began to pick out the darker blues and mauve that run along the top, above the gap. At this stage I was beginning to think more about the direction of the brushstrokes over the top curved surface of the shell to further introduce a sense of volume. The paint surface, particularly over the background and wooden tabletop, was applied more thickly and opaquely. Small adjustments were made to the shifts of warm and cool around and within the shell, with accents of warm being found in and underneath