Saturday, March 10, 2012

Next Big Cellar

Behind The Dryer, 24" x 18", oil on linen, ©copyright Richard Luschek 2012
I am working on a new series of paintings all of which are various scenes in my basement. I posted about the first of them in my last post. I have 3 more compositions planned out and will figure out more after those. There are interesting things to paint all over my basement.
The above painting is not quite done. I think I need another session on it, maybe two.
I am finding these paintings to be quite the challenge. Everything in the picture has to be keyed to the bulb. I find that when I am painting, it is easy to key the picture to something more comfortable to look at, like the wall. The wall is being illuminated by the bulb and is a high value. So, every time I bring the painting out of the basement the picture is too light over all and the bulb has no glow. The obvious answer is the plan fact that the painting is not giving off light. Staring at the bulb in real life is uncomfortable. This will never happen with pigment on canvas.  It would look stupid to cut a hole in the canvas for a bulb. Plus that would be cheating.
So, I have to create the effect of a lit bulb, but keying my lightest light to the bulb, and getting the appearance of a lit bulb by darkening everything else way down until I get the glow. So, I am working on this in the basement and then in the studio- where I can actually see the painting in day light. I just have to work on it until it starts to read like I remember it.
These paintings are teaching me the true meaning of verisimilitude- not the "actual truth", but merely the illusion of the truth.

2 comments:

jimserrettstudio said...

Your getting a great effect of light,
a very interesting image with the different textures and surfaces.
Cant wait to see the finished work.

Richard J. Luschek II said...

Thanks.
Well, one of the things I was doing was cleaning off the palette at the end of the day and then using a palette knife to scrape it on the painting. As you know, usually the palette scrapings are a warm gray, so it often worked or at least made for a nice texture to paint on later.