A lot of people I follow in the contemporary oil painting world are of the school of “paint it and forget it”. That is easily done if you have a lot of experience perhaps. For me, since I don’t plot out compositions too much nor do preliminary studies, this doesn’t work too well. I am of the wing-and-a-prayer school, using what I do know, and proceeding to let things evolve. Somehow I find that more satisfying.
Below is the final (for now) rendition of some persimmons. These are fresh fuyu persimmons which appear in the grocery stores for a few weeks and then vanish. They can be dried and are quite delicious. Hachi persimmons make great bread – a fruit and nut bread. There are even persimmons native to North America and may be found in the southeastern areas of the United States.
It seems pretty well settled as a painting except for the background to the upper right of the persimmons. It is a bit too yellow for my taste, but as I am considering whether or not to leave the overall back and foregrounds on the lightish side, this is something to be addressed once that decision is made.
Prior to this painting, I made an underpainting to set up colors and values and composition. This one I was pondering about – the lower left hand corner needed something, so I put in a persimmon leaf. Then, the painting was banished for about a week, to dry as well as to be able to look at it with fresh eyes.
I didn’t like the leaf. In general, though, I did like the painting. I decided to remove the leaf using the generative background PhotoShop element to remove it. You can see the results below.
Much better!! And so I painted the leaf out with fairly thick paint and made the adjustments you see in the first painting of this post.
Like I said, painting is an evolutionary process in many ways. With watercolors you are sort of stuck with what you put down, so plotting and planning – to a point – is necessary. Being able to anticipate is a big part of watercolor. All other media can be fixed and corrected. Mistakes can be hidden and reworked. I prefer oil to acrylic and gouache as that the paint is very malleable – you can moosh it around, wipe it off, and so on. Acrylics dry too fast for this, even with retardants. Gouache paint can lift (with artist gouache, not acrylic gouache) up and reveal the layers beneath if applied too thickly. Alkyds added to oil paints speed up the drying process and odorless mineral spirits help make oil painting a less stinky medium.
I will continue to paint in oils for the most part. Acrylic paint may provide an underpainting at times. Evolution can be a bit of fun, and these persimmons have been a real delight so far.
Oil paint, 10×10 cotton canvas on board.
Below, click through the paintings to see the progress of with leaf, without leaf, and semi-finalized painting.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 