Paper Crane

Diane Mannion, PAPER CRANE, 6x6" oil

      Started this while teaching my painting class yesterday.  It's difficult to teach and paint at the same time.  Thought I would wipe it off later but there was something about it, maybe just a few brushstrokes or dab of color that was worth saving.  Finished it from a snapshot that hardly looked like this.  The florescent classroom lighting is dismal.  I tell the students that if they can paint here they can paint anywhere and it will be so much better when they go home and set up their own still lifes under controlled or natural lights.  

      The green paper crane was a great excuse to break out my hardly used ready mixed greens too garish for landscape painting.  And although my students are beginning to hate baby food jars, I think they are a classic tool for learning to understand form.  And painting glass... well, just forget you're painting glass and look at the shapes, values, and colors.  Resist and add those highlights last.  Or maybe just one to give your eye a feel of the finished value relationships.

      My copy of Julian Merrow-Smith's book, POSTCARD from PROVENCE just arrived from France.  A feast for artist's eyes!  Check out his work: Julian Merrow-Smith.