Oil painting class

I have been teaching oil painting classes at the Cedarburg Cultural Center as of lately, we have been working on an exercise, which is great for painters at any level of skill to try. We have been copying this painting By an artist from Switzerland named Anker, 1898. I picked this painting for its simplicity in color, as it lends itself to the technique we have been using to establish the under painting called "Grisaile". I have been teaching my students to focus on the very subtle changes in tonal values that help us to achieve a realistic attempt in recreating, with paint, the subject at hand. which, in this case, is this wonderful loaf of bread, avocado and a tasty glass of beer. I have posted some of the steps along the way.... (below)

The first step? Mixing the black paint. I use french ultramarine blue and burnt umber, this makes a wonderfully rich black color, and when mixed with white, you get the nicest shades of gray you have ever seen. I always mix my own black paint... I find it gives me more control over the warmth or coolness I am trying to achieve. Second step? a light wash using just a thin wash of your black paint, no white paint at this time... mix with a medium of your liking, I use turp, linseed oil and damar varnish. Notice we are also working from a black and white photo copy of the painting, another tool to help us not get distracted by color while we try to make a convincing interpretation of form and space.

Here I rough out my composition, not concerning myself with ANY detail at this time...

I work every part of the painting as I go with a bit more attention to detail, but mostly I try to stay focused on placement of the subject matter, I don't want to get too carried away with one area or another at this time... once I think its in pretty o.k. shape, I think its a good time to let the paint dry for a while... just a few days...

Now I begin to work on refining the details, again, I work on the whole painting as I go bringing about the same amount of detail on every part of the painting. Still, I step back and notice there are a few things a bit "wrong" or just slightly incorrect. I can either decide to make my corrections at this point, or leave it. I have decided to make a few adjustments, which I will post when I have finished them... after this, the underpainting is finished. The next step will be glazing with the color. My class will be working on refining their under paintings and glazing next week... so check back for more updates on finishing this exercise... until then, Happy painting!