1/23/08

Second version of "Green Jar & Lemons


This is the midway version of this painting. Some of the darks have dropped out and will need to be reinforced. After careful thought, I wiped out the day's work on the silver creamer. The highlights were too high and the modeling looked too grayed -out to my eye. Sometimes the best thing is to wait a few days and come back with a fresh eye. 

4 comments:

Don Gray said...

Thanks for letting us get a glimpseof your process, Joan. Great to see and hear your thoughts and approach.

Joan DaGradi Studio said...

Hey Don, thanks for coming by!
The process with tempera was actually formulated by Emil Carlsen. I found it by chance in a reprint of an article he had written for a 1903 magazine article. I'll post it in it's entirety some time soon...

I'm very comfortable with that technique, but often I also just paint directly. Truthfully, most times I can't tell the difference in the finished product. Except every now and then the tempera will lead to a finish that I can't replicate with just slamming the oils. I'm seeing a speck of that in the lemon/white dish portion of "Green Jar".
Yesterday, I spoke with Snowden Hodges, of Hawaii, who uses Maroger. I once tried Maroger's 'Velasquez' medium, while copying the Juan de Pareja at the Met. It was THE most wonderful experience. Unfortunately, the friend who made the medium for me passed away soon thereafter and I never was able to buy more. I tried the standard Maroger medium yesterday, mixing the medium into dry pigments....but it's the Velasquez medium, without wax, that I fell in love with a long time ago.
I have that copy of the Juan de Pareja on my wall, painted over 25 years ago....still fresh, hasn't changed or darkened.

Diana K Gibson said...

Lovely painting!

Joan DaGradi Studio said...

Thanks, Diana!