This Grisaille is Now Closing

©2012, R.L. Delight, Open Grisaille, painting in progress

 My head is ringing with the Chicago song, Beginnings. We had band rehearsal tonight and it was a blast working on this one. Our band consists of flute, guitar, drums, keyboard, bass, AND, violin, trumpet, me on the cello, and two kick-ass, powerful vocalists (who also play the flute and guitar). It is a lot of fun but I always have to decompress a bit after rehearsals and performances as the music soars.
I am posting a day late and at the end of the day due to unforeseen circumstances. I did get time in the studio in today. The painting has been sitting all weekend, drying. I can no longer push and pull the paint around so I will have to move into the closed grisaille stage. The cornet is pretty rough still as it is rather complex and I left the details somewhat vague. I need to make several corrections. I think drawing and painting the cornet with the convoluted tubing that tapers and the foreshortening is the most challenging bit. Challenging, but so very fun!
I took a bit of time today to study the range of values. I was asking myself what the darkest dark was and where was the lightest light (not counting the bright highlights that will be on the silver cornet). I am glad I did this as I was surprised. I have a homemade value card that used Color-Aid papers from a color-and-fiber workshop in my past life. I held that up and squinted while looking at various areas around the still life setup. It was very helpful and gave me a sort of third party perspective. I should have done that sooner as the values of the painting are off a bit here and there. Fortunately I will have a chance to correct that in the next phase.
I can only get a picture of the painting on the easel from a strange angle so it is a bit distorted. As I sit here typing I realized that, hmmm....Perhaps I can take it off the easel to take a picture of it? Hello! I don't know why I didn't think of that earlier! The next time I post a picture I will take it off the easel and set it where I can get a better shot.
Well, the music energy is winding down and I need to get to bed. The rest of my week is filled with appointments and errands but I will get some painting in every day, just not as much as I want.
Have a wonderful last week of spring as the summer solstice is nearly upon us.
-Renee