Finished Pieces

“To be an artist means never to avert one’s eyes.” – Akira Kurosawa

| ssemchuk

Nov 22, 2015

Another painting of white fabric. I know, how edgy and daring can I get? I had meant to do a close up of my subject matter from the last two images, but I couldn’t find my original photo, so I started fresh. I chose an image with more contrast this time.  And I painted on panel instead of canvas. I prefer stretched canvas, but didn’t mind the hard texture of the panel on this one. I’m not thrilled with the visibility of the brush strokes of the gesso layer – next time I will definitely sand my panel smooth before I start. Overall, I’m not unhappy with this image. I like it better today than I did last night when I called it finished.

Drapery 3
Drapery 3

“Artists who approach perfection do not have many ideas.” -Odilon Redon

| ssemchuk

Sep 7, 2015

Odilon Redon Lemon
Odilon Redon Lemon, Sep 6, 2015, Oil on Canvas, 10″ X 10″

 

Round two of ‘lemons painted by other people and now painted by me’. This one is courtesy of Odilon Redon – not someone that makes me think “still life” – but I was really taken by this image of his and was inspired to recreate it as my own. Too bad I completely failed to capture the sort of similarity of style I was looking for. On the bright side, at least I don’t have to worry about the negative impact of approaching perfection.

“We live in a rainbow of chaos.” -Paul Cézanne

| ssemchuk

August 30, 2015

After my recent frustration with lemons I’ve decided to spend some time checking out how others have painted lemons. Here’s my version of one of Cézanne’s.

Cézanne Lemon
Cézanne Lemon, Aug 29, 2015, Oil on Canvas, 10″ X 10″

 

And here’s my inspiration:

Nature morte
Nature morte

 

I love the way his fruit is practically outlined – I may have to play with that more. In my various Cézanne searches, I came across this quote:

“Style is not created through servile imitation of the masters; it proceeds from the artist’s own particular way of feeling and expressing himself.” – Paul Cézanne

Perhaps M. Cézanne would consider my painting based on his work pointless and I kind of like the irony. Makes me want to continue my ‘Lemons after Masters’ project.

 

 

“Art is the triumph over chaos.” – John Cheever

| ssemchuk

August 23, 2015

Still Life
Still Life, Aug 23, 2015, Oil on Canvas, 40″ X 30″

 

Finally finished this painting! At least I think it’s finished. I’m not thrilled with the lemons, but I’m pretty tired of them, so if they need revisiting, it will be down the road a little when I figure out how to fix them.

Just for fun, I made a gif of the process of the painting. It didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped – the colours in the individual photos were far brighter – but it does inspire me to consider doing time lapse or something similar of the next larger painting that I do.

Still Life Painting
Still Life Painting