"Cupcake Land" Painting

My first diptych. I painted "Cupcake Land" with two 6"x12" canvases lined up side by side on my easel. I liked the idea of painting something short and wide ... perhaps because I see some walls around me that need something like that. Plus, one of my patrons indicated she'd like to see some more cupcakes from me. And, my dad was given a plateful of cupcakes as a special thank you treat this Sunday when we brunched at the Canteen (part of Mon Ami Gabi at the Reston Town Center, Reston, VA). Reason enough.

I've started a little different process. I am mixing up larger batches of the main colors I need to use for a particular painting. I paint a lot faster... but it's still a little foreign to me. Perhaps because I'm thinking less as I work. It would be useful for plein air painting when speed's required and thinking isn't. Funny how the process needs to change/adapt for the task at hand.

Today's an almost no art day. (We're hosting Thanksgiving dinner so I'm doing more of whatever you're doing.) But, yesterday, after painting "Cupcake Land," I returned to a painting I started many years ago -- a copy of a Sorolla (my favorite artist) painting. It was done as a homework assignment in Robert Liberace's Portrait and Figure Painting class ... and I remember Rob saying that I might have out-Sorolla'd Sorolla. My interpretation is that my colors were even more vibrant than Sorolla's. In returning to the painting, I realize just how much I've learned ... just how far I've come. I now understand values, colors, warms/cools, how to hold areas of the painting together, edges, brushstrokes... I'm pretty sure that when I first worked on this canvas, I thought I knew more. I bet looking back in a few years, I'll have the same sort of opinion of this week's attempt.

And, "Becky" -- my three-color chalk drawing that won Third Place at the 41st Annual Treasury of Art Show this weekend, sold.

"Cupcake Land" diptych, oil, each canvas 6"h x 12"w -- total 6"h x 24"w, copyright Jill Banks 2010. See more of my still life paintings of food on my web site gallery pages.

Web: www.jillbanks.com
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Phone: 703.403.7435