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| Vincent Giarrano Lobster with Bowl of Apples oil 12 X 16 in. |
Earlier this year, Vincent Giarrano (b. 1960) created a step-by-step still-life demonstration for Jerry's Artarama using Charvin Extra Fine Oil Colors, Charvin Extra Fine Painting Medium, Vermeer Classic Mongoose Hair Flat Brushes, and a Raphael Oil-Primed Linen Panel. To learn more about his process and the materials he used, please visit the blog, The Splatter, which teamed up with Giarrano to present this online lesson.
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| "I start by putting on a ground; paint thinned with turpentine. I use a brush and then wipe it around just lightly. I like a sort of a warm earth tone, usually ultramarine blue and burnt sienna." |
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| "With the same mixture I sketch out my subject. It's more of a plan than a tight rendering. Through the painting process I know it'll be changed or lost. It's enough of a guide that I can concentrate on my shapes of color instead of the subject as a whole." |
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| "Depending on my subject, I choose something to start with. In this case the background; that way I have a better sense of relating the rest of the painting to something correctly. It's also the furthest thing back, so I'm getting logical placement of one thing in front of another. For this painting I used a new medium; Charvin Extra Fine Painting Medium." |
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| "My process for this painting is to finish as I go. I concentrate on painting things only once, however if something is wrong I can always change it. I overpaint shapes slightly so I don't wind up with gaps between color notes." |
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| "I paint some of the table next so as to take advantage of working wet into wet with the background. Next I move onto the apples for the same reason and also because I'm still working from back to front." |
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| "I'm concentrating on keeping my color notes clean and also painterly, so I use as few brush strokes as possible; one or two and then back to my paint palette." |
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| "As I paint, I consider my edges and choose what I feel works best; hard, soft or lost edges." |
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| "I work on the bowl next and use thicker paint as notes go lighter in value. The basic idea is light advances and shade recedes, so this goes along with thick paint advances or is noticed more and thin paint recedes or stays back." |
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| "I start painting the lobster next, finishing as I go and moving left to right; the better to see and relate to what I've done, being right handed. I'm going back and forth between the red notes and the dark notes. I focus on keeping my colors clean and painting the color and shapes I see. It's important to ignore what your mind might be telling you about shapes and colors and concentrate more on what your eyes are really seeing. I finish up by painting in the table with the same things in mind." |
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| "Afterward I look at the piece and decide if there's anything I missed or want to change. The only thing I do is add the shape of a table leg in the background on the bottom." |