Recent Oils *Update 3/23*

[Mishkin275]

***Scroll Down for Update***

I didn't even know this section existed. It's right up my alley- I'm tempted to spend all day just looking at people's threads. Thanks for looking at mine :)

Quicky sketch
http://www.tgarretteaton.com/images/pears1_small.jpg
Litlle better:
http://www.tgarretteaton.com/images/asparagus2_small.jpg
In Progress (crappy glare):
http://www.tgarretteaton.com/images/jar_collection_large.jpg
First Life-Painting in 6 months. 3 hours:
http://www.tgarretteaton.com/images/head_study_large.jpg
Something I'll never finish:
http://www.tgarretteaton.com/images/table_large.jpg
And this is just some stupid crap in progress:
http://www.tgarretteaton.com/images/leaves1_large.jpg
thanks!

[Timothy Duong]

i love the asparagus paintings. great greens in there :yum:

[Maxine Schacker]

The pears are particularly pleasing! I know how hard they are to paint. Wht palette are you using?

[Mishkin275]

thanks for your comments! I'm not totally happy with the pears (I think I will give them another pass). As to the pallet, for the pears it was a shotgun blast of prismatics, cad green, cad yellow, ect. With the asparagus I started with a terre verte rub out (revealing the white board and providing the basic green) and painted on top of that with Ivory black, flesh ochre, yellow ochre, and white. When I got as far as I could I then added some fancy colors like cerulean for the rubber bands, and some cad yellow for the asparagus. It looks so luminous because I used a ton of medium (stand oil, Venice turps, a little damar and regular turp)

[JoelD]

I like these a lot. Good job man; the glow on the pears is awesome. Timothy is right about the asparagus too, the greens are really nice.

[deepbluehue]

My favorite one is the painting with the toilet in it.

[Zeus12]

THIS (http://www.tgarretteaton.com/images/jar_collection_large.jpg) one is amazing. Well honestly they are all amazing, but that one in particular is an interesting painting!

[Bushido]

Nice stuff, keep posting :)

[Maxine Schacker]

I think that sharing your process is really helpful and very interesting! I wish more people would do it.

[Queen Nehalania]

Gorgeous oil paintings!

[tokszmogus]

Nice paintings! Perspective in the interior painting is a bit off and head is too long I think. But I love the way you model shapes with color. Bottles with powder are my favorite. Keep going dude :-).

[Mishkin275]

Small update.. I have a few others lying around, but nothing good. I can't seem to get myself to do anything of importance, just crappy studies to sell. These are all done with a full palette. I can be more specific if you want to hear. Thanks to all that responded!

tokszmogus: you are right about the perspective and proportion! On the table its sort of intentional- just working with the immediacy of observing it (about 24" from my face). I always make my portraits too tall- its a curse. I'm so lazy when it come to drawing (when it comes to everything really). So thanks for keeping me on track!

This is in progress around 16" X 22":
http://www.tgarretteaton.com/images/bouquet_small.jpg
Yeah. Need to fix the lid on this thing, it's crooked. 9" X 12":
http://www.tgarretteaton.com/images/coffee_small.jpg
In progress... Bad photo- its all warped around 16" X 24":
http://www.tgarretteaton.com/images/cup_in_progress_small.jpg
8" X 10"
http://www.tgarretteaton.com/images/flower_vase_small.jpg
Little outdoor study.. not a great photo 9" X 12":
http://www.tgarretteaton.com/images/storm_drain_small.jpg

[Everything Inane]

only a color genius could paint that coffee pot. If i tried it would look like mud. there'd be brown in there and like.. i'd give up and use black from the tube.. making it all gray.. I need to learn how to neutralize colors like that.. I'm not even sure where to begin.. do you use a neutral tint or something? I'm thinking about those main sections of the coffee pot (sections being a side of the what looks like 8-10 side coffee pot), particularily the second from the right, on the top and bottom both

[Maxine Schacker]

Try really looking. Have the courage to put down what you see (scanning and comparing). Try to exact match colors.

Mishkin, some of your paintings are really lovely, and parts of all of them are excellent. The parts that seem harsh don't seem to have a balance of warm and cool. It's interesting because your white on white painting is beautiful...and traditionally that's considered the most difficult thing to do!
For example, your "blue" background behind the red vase would work better if you looked carefully to see where the red is reflecting and showing up in other parts of the painting. I hope this helps.

[Ging]

I think Maxine makes a good point about the red vase. There is a little bit of that color coming through in the lower left corner, but I would expect a bit more, and at a higher intensity, closer to the vase itself.

There are some really great parts in that painting. You have done really well in describing the delicate tones in the flower and I really love the shadow color used on the leaves and stems. The leaves themselves may need to be a tad more intense to help the shadow receed a bit more. You definately have some colorist tendencies in you! Nice work

[hemP]

I love these studies, especially the way you handle reflected light.
I saw that you mentioned you use a number of different mediums to mix with the paint to give it various effects. I'm currently working on an oil illustration right now and would be extremely grateful if you could stop by my sketchbook and point me in the right direction. Thank you for posting these paintings and any advice if you have time. :)

[Mishkin275]

Thanks for your comments everyone!

Maxine Schacker, Ging: you guys are dead-on in your critique! I totally see the harsh color relationships you are referring to, how the blue and red do not sit in the same space. I will go back an take a second look at that painting. It is a problem overall in my work that only parts of the painting really work- I need to start thinking about the whole... the gestalt if you will... I guess I have some colorist tendencies, but I think its just because I use an ultra chromatic palette!

Everything Inane: Painting shiny metal is the easiest thing in the world once you stop worrying about what color it is. Yes, I start with a neutral tone background, but that's just so I'm not looking at white. What really matters is understanding that there are no discrete colors; in other words there is no such thing as red, blue, grey, orange, ect. Each point in observed space is on a continuum of value and hue and something only looks "blue" or "red" because of what surrounds it. Therefore, the only thing you need to think about is: "Is this point warmer or cooler than what is next to it, and is it darker or lighter?" That is all you need to know to mix color. Now, using terms like "blue" and "green" are really helpful because the colors on your palette are already arranged like that.. So an alternative question would be, "Should this color be bluer? redder? Ect."... But always, "Is it darker or lighter?".. Then you aren't thinking about painting metal, you're just painting light.

Anyhow, I will post some more soon, I've been working as much as I can. Thanks again everyone!

[tokszmogus]

Hell yeah man, I like the broken cup image and that vibrant blue bg on the other peace. You have it, you know what I mean, so work it out :-).

I'm pretty bad in painting so can't say something that would help you to improve but compliments :-). Will wait for some more stuff.

[Maxine Schacker]

Mishkin, just see the whole painting that way! Scan and compare ( a mosaic of shapes of color) through the whole painting (not just the object), trying to exact match the color shapes.

I think you could become an extraordinary painter.

[Judy Warner]

Your white flowers are so well done. Any hints on how you got them to look so flower-like. I've been trying to paint flowers that don't look like metal for months--I will try your "mantra"--warmer, cooler, darker, lighter--and hope that helps. Judy

[xRabidxSockx]

Wow! What very beautiful still lifes. Also, I very much fancy the portrait! Your style of people is very unique! I love all your colours! Maybe if I study hard enough, one day I can do as good as you! <3

[Art_Addict]

Nice work Mishkin.

Light diminishes in strength as it travels away from the source. If you would incorporate that 'fall of light' slightly better it would add to the illusion and spatial feeling in your paintings imo.
Thanks for posting!