Sweet Pepper

8x 10, Oil on Panel

I completed this one awhile ago. I just can’t seem to get a photograph without glare in it though. Just another constant struggle with photography and against my lighting. I’ve gotten the color pretty close this time however. I often feel the need to take a photography course or at least get a good photography book to improve my skills in chronicling my paintings. My skills are not up to snuff with cameras and I just don’t understand many of their concepts.

As for the painting itself, I was originally planning to work further, but my wife enjoyed it as is. As such I’ve decided to leave it alone and let her keep it. I had wanted to alter the background to be a more believable shape, and whiten the cloth. This was one of those times when the actual appearance of the cloth looks less than truthful, the shapes are pretty spot on to what I had laid out albeit I flattened the wrinkling. As for the color I had only applied the first two layers and had left it to dry a bit.

This was one of my first big delves into wax in oil. The medium seems to (as expected) have made the painting much more satin, and has also allowed the light to pass through the paint in a nice way. I used Dorlands and linseed in a couch and also added a bit to my white.

I’ve since decided to employ a self made wax medium. I’m more comfortable with the bees wax, linseed oil, and turpentine self-made mixture, than all the exotic waxes in the Dorlands. They have very similar working qualities and my medium contains less ingredients and all conservators seem to agree that, “less is best” when it comes to ingredients in oil paintings.