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Showing posts with label still life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label still life. Show all posts

Two Upcoming Classes at Beach Studios






Felicia and I are kicking off the year with two sessions of classes. Our Art Boot Camp focuses on 2-week sessions of drawing, watercolor, monotype prints and colored pencil. It's a good way to try out the different mediums and experiment with them. Students will be working from still life set ups and this boot camp includes materials so our students don't have to spend extra money on the
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Fragile



The newest colored pencil piece, and first one completed for the new year, is titled Fragile, it is 10x14" and worked on rag illustration board. The idea came from a birthday party I attended back in November in which each attendee received a small nest with a saying attached. The words attached to my nest spoke to me: Be the rain. Wash away, cleanse, forgive. I thought what great advice, so
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Evening Colored Pencil Class Drawings

My evening class has been working on a drawing of pears on a surface of Ampersand Gessobord covered with Raw Sienna Colourfix primer. We worked from one of my photos and I had them begin by laying in color with Caran D'Arche NeoColors then adding water with a brush to push around the NeoColors around as an underpainting. When they were satisfied with the background, they began rendering the pears
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Complementary Color Painting Workshop

This weekend I'm taking a three-day oil painting workshop at the Providence Art Club with Mimo Gordon Riley whose work and style I admire because she paints so beautifully with a limited palette. Our assignment for the workshop is to bring two complementary colors of oil paint plus white, one pair of shoes and three canvases. I am the only student in the class who chose the red/green combination,
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Venetian Vase and Grapes, still life 8x10 Acrylic on canvas



I love this small Still life painting, it reminds me of the Still life paintings that were done by the Old  Masters during the Renaissance period. I found and bought this Venetian style vase at an antique store and immediately fell in love with it. It's only 8 inches tall, very delicate and  has a beautiful color of a soft yellow with some orange highlights and the arms are a clear glass. Because I felt it had a roman look about it, I thought it might be fitting to paint it with the grapes which compliments it. The hardest part for me was the draping of the table cloth. I had to paint it several times before I was satisfied with the look. Now that it's done, and as time goes on into my painting endeavors, I am beginning to see real progression towards my painting style and the subjects that mean the most to me. Hope you like this one.
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Green Bowl and Oranges, still life 8x10 Acrylic on canvas





I think that every artist feels very happy and surprised when they produce one or several paintings in his or her collection that they truly feel is one of their best works. I feel that way every time I look at this painting. As I look at it, I'm hoping that I did everything right in achieving that certain professional quality that one sees in paintings that hang in galleries. However, one question that I've been struggling with since I finished this piece and that is, can I reproduce that same quality in my future paintings. It's not that I haven't given the same care and attention to my past creative endeavors but once in a while you feel you've created something special that your really pleased with and you want to do it over again by retracing your steps. Using cool and warm tones in this painting, I hope it's balanced as well as having a pleasing composition.  I've started a new small painting similar to this one, again using a white table cloth and painting it from life. I'm hoping it will end up looking the same too.  I'll keep my fingers crossed. 

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"Salvaged" 16 x 20 Acrylic on Canvas


I originally began working on this painting back in the Spring of this year. At the time, I had a strong desire to paint a still life composition but I wanted to paint it from life rather than using a photo. Again, I visited the local Salvage Centre to see if I could find a few interesting objects to use in my painting. A Salvage Centre can be a fun place to find just about anything. Some unwanted stuff that I had found there as I was browsing, can be reused and recycled if they are in relatively good shape. If I find something that I like by way of color or that I find the shape interesting, I'll buy it. I know that at some point, I'll make use of it in my paintings. Pictured here is a tall blue vase, a small terra cotta cup with some fake flowers, a lovely butter yellow teapot (love the colour too!), a fake red leaf and a few polished stones. Everything here has a connection to each other, all are discarded and all are found again. Showcasing them in a painting, makes them loved.
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Working on the Angel's Trumpets

One negative aspect of taking a long vacation is that when I come home it can take me up to a week to get myself mentally back into my work. At first there are tedious duties to attend to such as unpacking suitcases and restocking the refrigerator and then frustration when I try to sit down to draw. I finally eased into my work again yesterday and I began by studying my Angel Trumpet flower
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"Found Objects and Yellow Daisies" 12x16 Colored Pencils on Canson drawing paper

My latest Still Life colored pencil drawing, features found objects that I picked up at a thrift store for under a dollar each. The small orange cup to the left is a pottery piece made by someone who obviously didn't like how their piece turned out. It looks a little crooked but I still like it and wanted to keep true to its form. The blue vase is also a hand made piece and the green vase is factory made and both are crooked as well. No matter, found objects together can make a nice drawing or painting. They add interest and make a pleasing composition by way of color and form. I added a few yellow daisies that I bought from the grocery store and voila! I enjoyed working on this drawing but I have to admit that with my busy schedule, it took over a week to complete and I was getting a little tired, and now, I am anxious to move on to something else. 
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A Bowl of Oranges

My mother or my grandmother had this sweet little bowl that I found and decided I wanted to draw as a small still life. I filled it with tangerines and set it up against a white surface and background. I decided to work on orange Canson Mi Teintes paper so I could get the orange glow to show through the whole drawing and give a warm color harmony to the drawing. The finished size is 7 1/2" x 8 1/
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New Hampshire Workshop

I drove up to New Hampshire on Friday afternoon and stayed with an artist friend I haven't seen in many years, Mary Jane Cross, who paints in oils. We had long conversations about art and she cooked me a delicious dinner and breakfast the next morning. Saturday morning I woke up to 11ยบ weather. Who would have thought it would be so cold at the end of March? Fortunately, at least the days are
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Straw Berry


Sorry I have been remiss.
I have not posed lately. I have been working on my art work however. I also bought a new camera and have been trying to learn how to use it. I am posting a study of a strawberry that I worked on at the end of 2010. I am posting all 4 media studies all at once. My favorite is the colored pencil one. I am not as happy with the water color study. Hope you enjoy this touch of summer.
"Straw Berry"
Water Color 9" by 11"
Copyright @ S. Ciaccio 2011







"Straw Berry"
Color Pencil 9" by 11"
Copyright @ S. Ciaccio 2011






"Straw Berry"
Pen and Ink 9" by 11"
Copyright @ S. Ciaccio 2011



"Straw Berry"
Pencil 9" by 11"
Copyright @ S. Ciaccio 2011




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Brushes

So many uses for a simple tool made of a stick of wood with hairs or bristles attached in a bunch at one end...brooms, toothbrushes, wire brushes, brushes for basting, makeup, painting - houses, fingernails, artwork - scrubbing, moving crumbs, grooming hair; it goes on and on. Just to see there is beauty in so simple an object is a delight. I hope you enjoy this small (6 x 4) colored pencil painting called 'Makeup Brushes'.  It was SOLD at the Coupeville Arts Festival Juried Art Show in 2011
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"Oranges and Lemons" 11x14 Acrylic on canvas board


I was experimenting using cobalt blue, cad orange, cad yellow and a few other colors in my palette. I had the oranges and lemons in my kitchen and placed them on the table. They rolled a bit, stopped and this is what they looked like when I painted them. I like the relationship of these colors together and how vibrant the whole painting looks.
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"Magnolias and Green Vase" 16x20 Acrylic on canvas



This is a painting I did in the Spring of 2010. I used silk magnolias(no real ones that I could find),and found the green vase that I purchased at a local craft store.The shape and color of the vase looked interesting and I knew that I had to use it for a still life painting. Both flowers and the vase went very well together visually and since I am a fan of the famous artist Salvador Dali,I decided to give the fallen leaves and petals on the table, an abstract look in the Dali style. I hope you like this painting as much as I do.
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"Vintage Pears" 11x14 Acrylic on canvas


This is one of my earliest paintings. I wanted to give the pears an old world look by using a more monochromatic palette. I love pears, this is one of my favorite paintings.
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Pear in Basket Water Color


Copyright by S. Ciaccio 2010
"Pear in Basket" Water Color
9" by 11" 250gsm paper
My water color study of the pear in basket based on Jacqueline Gnotts instructional water color video. I was trying to develop my technical skill. I was pleased with the results and really learned a lot .
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Pear and Basket Colored Pencil

Copyright by S. Ciaccio 2010
"Pear in Basket" Colored Pencil
9" by 12 " 250 GSM
My colored pencil study of the pear in the basket still life. The idea was from Jacqueline Gnott's water color instruction video. I really enjoyed doing this piece. I was pleased with the results.
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Pear in Basket Pen and Ink



Copyright by S. Ciaccio 2010

"Pear in Basket" Pen and Ink

9" by 11" 250 GSM

My pen and ink study of the pear in a basket design This is based on an instructional DVD by Jacquelline Gnott. I found this study fun with the different textures and trying to depict lace. the studies in pencil and pen and ink really forces me to think about values and shapes. It helps me resolved problems and become familiar with the subject before interjecting color into the study.


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" Pear in Basket"


Copyright by S. Ciaccio 2010
"Pear in Basket" pencil drawing
9" by 11" 250 GSM
I purchased a instructional water color DVD by Jacqueline Gnott. I am trying to improve my water color techniques. I greatly admire her work, and have a link to her work on my blog. This idea is from her DVD "Pear Princess". She paints the most amazing pears. This is the pencil study of the instructional video. I will be posting my usual four studies. I was pleased with the results.
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