"Black Hole" (9x12 oil on panel) painting process

Good Morning,

The painting post for today illustrates a case of pushing my initial concept further and further until it finally worked.

detail

The setup:

My concept is to make the dark mouth of the pitcher the focus of the painting. I want to push it until the darkness is very dominant, dramatic, and maybe a little creepy. That's my mental image at this point in the process.

First stage. Umber shapes of shadow, then straight in with the knife:

Next stage:

Next stage:

At this point things are progressing but the desired effect just isn't there yet. I'm trying to figure out how to make the dark hole even more dominant. I have limited the darks in the rest of the painting, but it isn't extreme enough. I start experimenting, trying to solve this problem.

Next stage:

An "aha" moment. I squash the value ranges in the rest of the painting even more. At this point I am using brushes over the dry knifed-on paint (using alkyds, they dry quickly). And I introduce a new element of color that doesn't interfere with my initial concept but adds drama while giving a vertical motion to the painting which helps to balance the composition.

And the finished painting, "Black Hole" (9x12 oil on panel, 2015):

Thanks for reading! -David

My Website
My Instagram