Monday, February 25, 2013

Painting glass


glass 2 sm

I've determined that my love of painting water and fish and reflective objects is all down to that play of light and how it forms shapes so well.  Capturing the reflective quality is a challenge to me and a bit like a puzzle that I always enjoy tackling. Glass tends to be one of those perceived difficulties for artists who view the whole and panic, wishing there was a "glass" paint to achieve the transparent and reflective surface.

Reflective surfaces need to be studied carefully to understand just what makes up their form.  When you dissect a highly reflective object in bright light, you see that the lines between values are very well marked and break the general rules in painting and drawing of not having crisp edges between values.   It is that edge that defines what we see and interpret and shiny.  If the bright light was not reflecting off the surface, the effect would still be there, but less intense.

glass oil 2 sm       glass oil 1 sm

Yesterday I created the study of a glass bottle (top of page) using watercolour in a 6 x 12 multimedia sketchbook.  I love my studies as many of you know and wanted to see if this would be worthwhile to turn into a painting.  And I believe it is. 

The form and reflections work well and I've drawn the bottle again freehand with acrylic paint and blocked in some form with dilute acrylic washes.  Next I'll start adding colour in oils.   Acrylic backgrounds are almost another form of study, letting me block in colour quickly to set the stage for what is to come. 

This is on a 9" x 12" canvas panel.

12 comments:

Christiane Kingsley said...

Yes! please do turn this into a painting.
I love to read about your studies.

Celeste Bergin said...

yes indeed...that is super-glassy! Great work...beautiful!

Jennifer Rose said...

i really like the acrylic painting the way it is now, simple but very effective. :)

Jeanette Jobson said...

Its on its way to a painting Christiane in oils. So far, so good.

I love painting glass Celeste. Its the detail freak in me. :)

Thanks Jen. there's appeal in the initial 'bones' of a piece I always think and sometimes I prefer to just leave them like that.

Phillip Hildebrand said...

I also like the acrylic painting. It is really a great creative work from painter !!

Jen Beaudet said...

Beautiful job! I definitely need to work on glass and other reflective surfaces. I'm one of the people who panic. You've done a nice job of explaining it though!
Thanks so much for stopping my my blog.
Nice to meet you Jeanette:)

Can't wait to see your oil of this!
J
ennifer

Jeanette Jobson said...

Thanks Phillip. I love the beginnings of a painting, then comes the challenge of not messing it up! :)

Jennifer, welcome to my blog and thanks so much for your comments. Like everything, one step at a time and you get there. Its just all shapes really, so tackle a small section and you're there b efore you know it!

Karen Balon Art said...

Jeanette,
Love seeing your glass studies and work. I have a fascination with glass and have been doing a number of oil studies myself since January. Nice to read some of your thoughts and insights on the subject.

Neck Joint Service said...

It is really a beautiful and creative blog having some vital information over the subject. Thank you for share.

clipping path said...

Lovely glass painting. i know it's not so easy task but you did it simply . thanks

White Background said...

Very good post and wonderful painting . thanks for sharing with us

Robert Smith said...

Nice illustration. Thanks