Radish Series

"Radish Redux"

6 x 8

One of my first posts this year was on the topic of working in series. Lately I have been at it again, with a series of still life paintings of radishes. I enjoy painting radishes--but, as is the case with most foliage, the green parts can wilt pretty quickly under the heat of my studio lights. (Carol Marine had a recent post on how to minimize the effects of the heat from studio lighting, which I recommend to fellow painters who might be interested in that sort of thing).

After finishing the painting above, the greens were pretty limp, so I bought some fresh new "Easter Egg Radishes". I painted them twice, on panels of two different sizes, and also from two different perspectives. I was walking around the studio when I caught a glimpse of the first setup, looking back into the light. I loved the look of the backlit radishes, and the foreshortening of the subject as it reached back into space. Voila, my third radish painting! (You can read more about this painting here).

"Backlit Radishes"

8 x 8

SOLD

I made a note to myself that I should always walk all the way around the still life setup before I start painting. There is often a surprise composition hiding in plain sight, which may be even better than the one intentionally set up. Come to think of it, this is the same lesson I wrote about in my post "Keeping an Open Mind". It's always good to be open to a change of plan when you see something that is visually exciting.

"Multicolored Radishes"

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