Post #749897 by MadDogMike on Fri, Aug 28, 2015 6:39 AM

I have gotten fairly proficient at ceramic sculpture but have always struggled with any type of drawing or painting so I decided to take an oil painted class offered at the community college. Our first assignment is a still life so I'm working on "Still Life with a Tiki Mug" This is a beginning class but the instructor spent about 30 minutes talking about oil paints and color mixing then said "Get your canvases and start painting". I had anxiety standing in front of that blank canvas :lol:

Photo of my still life scene. El Tiki mug and menu, pineapple and 2 limes.

Progress after the first night

Last night's progress

I like the shadows and shading, not so happy with the pineapple yet.
Oil paint dries very slowly so shading work nicely but clean-up is a huge mess.
With wood carving, you have to stop at some point or you have nothing but a pile of chips. But you can keep adding paint to a canvas forever, refining areas and covering mistakes. How do you tell when you are "done"?