Bread and Wine - First big DMP and Chiaroscuro challenge painting

Martin_J_Crane

This is my first big (for me) DMP painting although the small studies I did were also using the color checker, etc. It is 12x16, painted from a still life setup in my studio. I followed Mark's method pretty closely, blending only where I wanted to soften an edge and in the background, which I made up. The only departures were that I did an underpainting rather than a pencil drawing, and rather than mixing up all the color groups at once, I mixed a couple, then painted, then mixed more. Critiques, comments and suggestions much appreciated. Thanks for looking and thanks especially to Mark and David for sharing this with us!

Martin



P.S. @David, I was not able to upload the image directly to the site.

[Deleted User]

Superb!

In regards to the image upload problem, I'm not sure what's happening on your end. It seems to be working okay for me at the moment.

AZPainter

David, this afternoon I came in and checked into the site and kept getting a blank page for all sections of the forum, General Discussion, Post Your Paintings and all the others. The home page came up and so did the forum, but that is where it ended. I could not access any thing else. An hour later I tried it and had to login all over again. This is the second time this has happened to me. Maybe a connection to Martin's problem with the upload? I am no computer whiz, so I have no clues.

Martin. Nice piece! You should enter this in the April Chiaroscuro challenge. Definitely.

Gary

Stunning Martin! I would to be specific about what I esspecially like but for the life of me I can't pick out one two things above any other. It's just a great piece! Congratulations....more please! =D> =D> =D>

Mark_Carder

Really good!!!! :-)

Harrell

I especially like the brocade fabric - so difficult to do. This is a beautiful piece.

tjs

Martin it's classical beautiful! I with Gary on this one - not sure what I like the best! I am in awe ^:)^ ^:)^ ^:)^

maugie

real nice.

cynthiagwilson

Fantastic, and it was worth the wait! Great job! =D> =D> =D> So stunning!

billj

Very nice, especially the reflections of the bread.

Grandma

This is a stunner. Can't find anything to offer advice on. Great, great job!

gus

Yes, I too just love this. Fabric so well rendered and interesting comp. Donna

dencal

Martin

Excellent work.

The knife creates some tension, precariously perched on its balance point.
Slight discord with the tankard, that no self respecting wine drinker would use, but the metal reflections are superb.

Love the light flow, composition and edge handling.

Denis

Castillo

^:)^

Christel

Very beautiful Martin, thank for sharing

Ronna

Good Grief Martin, this is awesome! That's a great set up too. Beautiful =D>

Martin_J_Crane

Thank you guys so much! I really appreciate your comments. @Denis, I used to make wine and that bottle is from a batch I did in 1998. Its well past its prime now, so it might be something that no self-respecting tankard user would drink! For me, the funnest part ot paint was the knife, which was painted last. I looked like a mess of color blotches until it was finished, but I kept on painting what I was seeing, almost hearing a familiar voice in the background saying "Don't fix!"

sue_deutscher

holy cow Martin, I really like that!

SusieQ

outstanding Martin

opnwyder

I'm really impressed with this. And that knife is fantastic, as is the entire painting. You must be staring at this one with a proud feeling, it's really great.

Martin_J_Crane

Here's a pic of the painting in progress with the setup in my studio.

Martin_J_Crane

Or not - trying again...

Martin_J_Crane

Thanks, op, but I suspect I'm feeling like you are with your WIP - I'm tired of looking at it and will probably put it away for awhile so I can see it with fresh eyes. Time to move on to something else!

opnwyder said:

I'm really impressed with this. And that knife is fantastic, as is the entire painting. You must be staring at this one with a proud feeling, it's really great.

AZPainter

Okay Martin, Looks great, but I gotta ask.... Are the opera glasses used for something or a prop that just hasn't been put away yet?

Martin_J_Crane

Ha! I actually use them! I'm nearsighted to begin with, and in dim light things are even worse. Leaning forward to get a better look at the reflections didn't work because that made the reflections change. So ... I remembered seeing Jon David Kassan using a pair when he was doing a portrait from life. I gave it a shot and it helped -- Go figure!

AZPainter

Great! I suspected it was something like that, but wasn't sure. One rarely see opea glasses on an artists easel, so I had to ask.

shirley_seput

Hey there Martin ... love it! Your silver has a nice heavy feel to it... a painting to be proud of for sure. :-bd

garrykravit

OH DUDE! This is stunning work! Really, really good. Congrats!

THIS is the kind of "atmospheric" I'm talking about in my post on Scot's thread. Damn, you nailed it.

G

Martin_J_Crane

Thanks you guys...it really means a lot to me.

Rtaeger

Very, very good! Much better than my first one.

elena

Great,lovely paint,this make me fly to my childhood when my grandma and my grandfa they used to have a glass( in simply glass of water) of red wine with bread and cheese in a middle of nature and that times where so lovely so full of traditions,so beautiful.If i can say to you,i repeat to you is great paint what you done, but i will change your glass and i will add a pease of cheese,it will look more traditional and is give to who look more,more(what's the word i'm looking for?)wom inside.Please don't get me wrong,please,i'm here to say what i'm thinking so...great job

Martin_J_Crane

Thank you, Elena! I'm glad that you like the painting and that it brings you good memories. Two things that I would like to do with my still lifes are 1) use objects that are somehow related to each other, and 2) suggest maybe that a person was just there. I thought about using a wine glass but I wanted to include this pewter stein because of the reflection and the composition, but more importantly to me, because it was my father's. I also wanted to suggest that the scene is in a working class tavern where maybe the wine glasses have all been broken! (Although the cloth and the knife are a little fancy for that). But, this is also why there is still wine in the bottle, the label is turned away (not important), and the cork is pushed back in. I also like your idea of including cheese! :-)

Martin

Martin_J_Crane

Rtaeger said:

Very, very good! Much better than my first one.

Thank you Ralph -- I admire your work!

Martin

garrykravit

Just to let you know, Martin, I like this thing so much. I keep coming back to look at it. I showed Karen last night and expressed that you achieved a mood and atmosphere that I'm desirous of. I've been "studying" it, wondering exactly how to set up the lighting in my studio to achieve such effect.

This led to my wife suggesting that I try to paint with natural light. I like this idea but the only place we really have North light in our house is our family room and I'd have to make some accommodations. I think she regrets that idea because I'm now considering setting up a small shadow area in the family room.

Bottom line - I really dig this painting.

Garry

shirley_seput

I too came back to admire it Martin... wonderful painting! ^:)^

Martin_J_Crane

Thanks, @garrykravit ! My studio is in the basement, with very little natural light, so here is what I did. I used a 5000K bulb (I don't remember the wattage) in a clamp light which I attached to the top of an extra easel. The light was placed to the upper front left of the shadow box, so the light cast long dark shadows on the right. I softened the light by experimenting by hanging white plastic sheets from a shopping bag in front of it. (I balanced my easel light by doing the same). In the setup you can see that I placed a shiny metallic reflector from a clamp light on the right side. This was to give the objects in the setup, especially the bread and bottle, a bit more reflected light on the right. I didn't want the cloth to be bright at the bottom so I rigged up a piece of foam board with a hole in it to block some of the light down there. The light in the background was key, but my original setup was just black, so I made that up through trial and error, dabbing and removing the colors I used on the cloth against the dark.

Hope this helps...

Martin

rgr

I love this. The softness of it is beautiful!

cynthiagwilson

Martin,
Like Shirley, I just had to come back and admire your work. Every detail to me is perfect. No matter what you went through, I see perfection. Not just saying nice words, I love the outcome, and the technical side. Spot on, and worth every brush stroke!!! Excellent job Martin! Excellent! =D> You gotta be proud!

Martin_J_Crane

You guys really know how to make somebody's day! :-)

Amrit

Oh Martin this is wonderfully painted and beautifully composed. An all round great painting!

Cin_D

^:)^ ^:)^ ^:)^

bhopali

Martin , the painting is fantastic !

Pop

This is a really nice painting, so impressive, it's awesome. You seem to have captured depth in the room, it's really cool

Martin_J_Crane

Thanks very much, Amrit, Cin_D, bhopali & Pop! One of the things I wanted to learn was how to to render the space around and behind the objects, so I'm glad its working. I have the "curse" Mark talks about, which I think in part is due to staring at the same picture for so long while you're working on it, so its harder for me to tell.

Savannah

Hey Martin...I posted on the challenge site but want to congratulate you again...I absolutely love this painting...there isn't anything not to like... ">

luisfrancisco

maestro es maravilloso su trabajo me encantaría algún dia pintar la mitad de lo que ud logra ^:)^ ^:)^ ^:)^

Martin_J_Crane

Gracias, Louis! Gracias, Luis! He dibujado por un largo tiempo, pero sólo he empezado a pintar hace poco. Si sigue cuidadosamente las técnicas de Mark y tomar el tiempo para observar cuidadosamente su tema, puede progresar muy rápidamente!

Thank you, Louis! I have drawn for a long time but I have only started painting recently. If you carefully follow Mark's techniques and take the time to carefully observe your subject, you can progress very rapidly!

praweena

Love you work. It s’ beautiful.

Martin_J_Crane

Thank you very much, Praweena, and welcome!

jcdr

Nice work. Beautifully executed.

bhopali

Luv the wine bottle, the bread knife, the bread and reflection of it on the cup...luv the cup...this one is a sure shot winner on any wall!!