New Market Series Painting Start Today: "Fruit and Wine"

I started "Fruit and Wine" today -- the latest painting in my new Market series. This last week I've been working on a portrait commission and it was time to let it rest for a few days. Later I'll be able to return to it with a fresh perspective. Always a good thing!

"Fruit and Wine" depicts a fruit stand in Burano, Italy ... a fishing village near Venice. All of the buildings are painted unbelievably bright, beautiful colors to help the fishermen find their way back home. Arriving there on the ferry, you pass one impossibly vibrant building after another. Randy and I went there during Easter week last year on Robert Liberace's art historical tour. Artist friend Linda Wharton missed the ferry the rest of the group took because she got engrossed in a painting done on the spot. That happens. She rejoined the group many worried hours later.

For day one, I wanted to get the base, loose drawing in place and roughly block in the colors. The blue of the walls will get knocked down in intensity later ... to make it drift back in space. It's interesting that I'll have to do that, as blues are the most difficult colors to keep bright. They look bright and intense on the palette, and as soon as you mix them with another color, they immediately dull. An exception I've found is Winsor Blue (made by Winsor and Newton). To dull it, I will probably use a glaze made with Gamblin's Neomegilp and Transparent Earth Orange (a complementary color). We'll see if that works.

"Fruit and Wine" work in progress (day one), oil on Senso linen, 24"h x 36"w, copyright Jill Banks 2009.

See more of my Market paintings ("Limoni", "Rialto Market", and "Rainy Day Market") on my web site, www.jillbanks.com in the gallery pages. Since I can't figure out whether they are "still lifes" or "places", you'll have to look at them both. Or, better yet, stop by this weekend at my new upstairs, downstairs studios at 1144 Walker Road, Suites D & G, Great Falls, VA. I'll be participating in the Spring Arts Festival sponsored by Great Falls Studios, a membership organization of 84 artists who live or work in Great Falls. 30 of those 84 will be taking part in the Festival that occurs in two locations near the intersection of Walker Road and Colvin Run Road. That's this Saturday and Sunday, 10am-5pm. I'll give more details in another post.

Web: www.jillbanks.com
Blog: jillbanks.blogspot.com
Email: jillbanks1@aol.com
Phone: 703.403.7435