Oil Painting One

In my painting class of Fall 2024, we were introduced to many painting mediums. The first being oils. I was both excited and a little nervous since I hadn’t used oils before. The first painting we were tasked with was a still life of objects found in the classroom. We were separated into groups, of about 3-4 people per set up. Each person in the group contributed an object to the display. I decided to make my first oil painting in black and white values, instead of in colour. This was because I was still getting a hand of how oil paints work, and I thought having a painting where I could practice my value scale and understanding the colour values by looking at them would be helpful for when I would later take on a coloured painting. This painting was done on a wooden board which was also something to get used to, as the paint was harder to glide across the surface. I was very focused on making sure to depict what I saw—how each item interacted with the others, and how the light shown on each of them, and casted shadows on one another, and the surface. I began with a light painted sketch—mineral spirit diluted black oil paint to get a grasp of where everything will be located at the end. This helped me to then, little by little darken the lines that I wanted to keep, and paint over the ones I didn’t. This painting took me about 6-8 hours to complete.