Clicking the links in other people’s blogrolls is fun! Sometimes a quick look is enough, but sometimes I find a new favourite. A couple of days ago I found Doug Hoppes’ blog (with one of the most intriguing URLs I’ve seen – bugstumper.blogspot.com!)
I enjoyed looking at Doug’s art, but what really caught my interest was one of his labels: Failures. What a great idea! The best way to learn is from our mistakes and failures, but I think there’s a natural tendency to want to show only successes. So I’m blatantly stealing Doug’s idea and creating a new category, Learning from Failure. Its first entry is below, and I’m sure many more duds will follow!
6 x 8" oil on canvas board
This little study of a bottle is an old one. I did it last year soon after I started painting, but just found it again recently. The actual bottle isn’t too bad. The problem is the background. It was such a flat and boring black that I tried to liven it up a bit. And having just read about the “fat over lean” rule, I added a generous dollop of stand oil to the paint. I can’t remember now why I chose stand oil (probably because I’d read that it yellows less than linseed oil) but I’m quite sure I hadn’t researched it, or mediums in general, enough to know what I was doing. Which is why the top and sides now look as if they’ve been smeared with honey.
What I learned:
- Oil painting is complex. I’ve got a lot to learn about it, and thoroughly understanding its chemistry and other basics (like fat over lean) is just as important as colour and composition.
- Backgrounds are part of the painting; I need to be think about them before I start.
