Calling it done! "M"

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I let the painting sit for a few days and showed it to some people. One artist friend recommended that I darken the area around the maple syrup bottle, because your eye entered the painting and moved back, but didn't have anything to settle on back there. So today I worked a little on the maple syrup bottle, darkening some of the darks and the shadow beside it, and brightening the lights. 

I also tackled fixing the eyes of the mask. I felt that the eye on the right was a little higher than the other eye. Another artist friend said she thought I needed to add some darks around the eyes, because that area looked a little flat. So I worked on the eyes. But then they called too much attention to themselves, so I lightened the pupils and tried to make sure the eyes weren't looking directly at the viewer, but a tiny bit to the side. I hope it comes across. I also worked on the nose and mouth and brightened the cheeks a little. I scumbled a little color over the mask's reflection in the mirror tray, because it was too bright.

Another comment (from my husband) was that the shadow of the metalwork of the tray should have brighter spots within it. So I darkened the shadow, which resulted in the light spots looking brighter. I also added some highlights to places here and there in the metalwork.

I added a few more green highlights to the moss.

I repainted the wall in the upper left corner, because it seemed patchy looking.

I tweaked a couple of the piles of money. 

I smoothed the ellipse at the top of the Mr. Peanut cup.

I worked on the m&ms a tiny bit.

I added a few tweaks to the mammoth.

And with all of that, I'm going to say this painting is finished. Probably.


"M", oil on canvas, 24" x 24"

Objects in this painting:

Melissa's Monopoly Money

Mammoth

Mr. Peanut cup

Milk 

Macarons

Moss in Maroon pot

Mirror tray

M&Ms

Maple syrup

Mask of Poseidon

Magenta cloth


Thanks for reading! Click on the image for a larger view. 

Visit my website to see more of my Alphabet series, "Still Life A-Z" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 


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