Surrounded

Why Surrounded? After all, this fresh little egg from a nearby chicken coop is, well, all by itself. Ahh but this little egg is not by itself. Welcome to my series of paintings and blog posts called “Favorite Things.” Each week in 2020, I paint a still life painting of one of my favorite things. Then I photograph and write about it.

I like to describe why and how I came to paint the painting. Then I share some artist notes and information. So, back to the first question I posed.

Why Surrounded

First, the luscious egg in this painting is surrounded because it is bathed in a beautiful east facing light. And it’s resting on a luscious green-ish and blue-ish towel. The little egg is “looking up” to a crisp white cloth napkin. So, you see, dear reader, this egg IS surrounded by lovely light and objects. Not alone.

And, as I painted this week, I thought of the millions of people all over the world, who are living and dying alone. I imagined the possibility that those living or dying alone did not feel this way. What if, in the midst of this raging pandemic, each felt light, connectedness and shelter…even for just a moment. I’m telling you people: Who knew that a little egg painting might generate all this thinking?

Bit of a sidebar here: I don’t think these thoughts can occur, at least for me, under any other circumstance except when I am working alone in my studio. I am an extrovert and I do enjoy my friends and family. But, there is an exquisite beauty to the time I am alone and working on a painting.

Artist Notes

Well I guess it’s time to share the artist notes of this stoic little egg painting. As I painted the egg itself, I had a similar experience of painting in natural light while in school in Philadelphia. That is, I kept seeing SO many different colors in that little egg.

I saw green reflected up from the tea towel. I saw blue notes from the light. I saw warm reddish brown transitions from light to shadow. I saw purple-ish dark lights. Oooh la la…I saw so many colors. And, yes, dear reader, I see these colors with the aid of 1/2 a cup of black coffee (La Minita from Cup A Joe’s as a matter of fact) and my eyes. That’s it. No recreational drugs required or involved.

So I actually had to ‘turn off’ some of that color seeing to keep things simple. It helps that I continue to paint with a limited palette this week. In fact, I used the same colors as last week’s painting and post.

Limited Palette

So here’s the list of colors I used: Burnt Sienna, Cadmium Yellow, Ultramarine Blue, Ivory Black, Quinacradone Magenta and Cremnitz White. Guess what? I actually missed overbearing and bossy Pththalo Blue this week. I could have used it in so many places including the greenish, blueish tea towel and the transitions from light to dark in the egg.

But I got to learn and stretch and see the limitations of trusty and friendly Ultramarine blue. And, thanks to Quinacridone Magenta (I just love saying that word), I got some pretty tremendous purples and pinks in the value transitions of that little egg. So, who needs Pththalo Blue after all, right?

For Sale

This painting is for sale for $375. You can learn all the details and buy it here. If you are interested in getting weekly updates with my latest painting and associated post, you can sign up here.

I hope you are feeling ‘surrounded’ in a good way these days? If you are or even if you aren’t, do share in the comments below. OK? Stay safe and thank you for reading.