Friday, July 08, 2011

Something shiny - half way



Marbles seem to have a universal attraction for artists and non-artists.  The hard, semi transparent, reflective surface give so many possibilities.

For some reason I have marbles in my head (yes I know...) and I need to paint them to get it out of my system.  Of course finding marbles is not as simple as anticipated, not the ordinary cat's eye marbles anyway.  Everything these days seems to be extraordinary swirls of colour in opaque glass with exotic patterns or designs.  I just want plain old marbles that I remember from childhood.

Stage I - blocking in values

But all is not lost.  I found this creative commons image to practice on and am quite enjoying the process so far.  The painting is at about the half way point, so more work on it tomorrow.  Its a small piece again.  Smaller studies let me work out the issues that I come up against and the marble is no different.  This is in acrylic, I think a larger work, once I find marbles will be in oils.

7 comments:

Wai Li said...

Holy macaroni. I'm in love. I like how you did the background. top dark bottom light :)

Jo Castillo said...

Great Jeanette. I'm imagining how it will be when you have real marbles. Wow!

Jeanette Jobson said...

LOL Wai Li. Marbles are great fun to paint. The background is coming along. Its good to have some darks to showcase the glass.

Jo, thanks. I hope to have this piece finished today and have a few more props even if I don't find my marbles today.

Sandra Busby said...

I almost wish I hadn't seen this amazing painting of yours. I painted some old style marbles recently too(there is a link to the post on the side of my blog if you'd like to have a look), and I was really pleased with them... until I saw yours! That's when I saw how a 'real' artist paints! Now mine don't look even half as good!

Sue Clinker said...

Beautifully painted ... I honestly thought this was a reference photo.

Obviously I don't still have my marbles lol

Jeanette Jobson said...

Sandra, I did see your marbles and some of your other pieces. They are beautiful and you should never feel any other way. We all create art with a different style, that's what makes it all so interesting.

Sue, I lost my marbles long ago! lol I'm still working on this one. The final piece today or tomorrow I hoppe.

suzanneberry said...

this is incredible! beautifully done!