The Escape [oil, 9”x12”]

My plein air plans have been put off for a few days while I rest up after a little spring cold.  So, rather than sitting out another day on the sidelines, I set up a little still life and played with my plein air gear inside. 

I took a few photos through the process.  Those of you that are more experienced with oils are welcome to chime in with pointers as you see the things I’m struggling with. 

This first sketch and layer…  I struggled, as usual, with the composition at the drawing stage.  It’s my weak point..  I miss painting on paper some days – canvas panels like this take the “cropping” options away.  I struggled with the closest egg shell, getting it wrong from the get go. 

After establishing the shadow areas in the darker blue/grey, I move on to dropping in some mids [and leap to highlights – too soon!].  My eggs are quite scrambled at this point. 

Below, I’m still working on both the darks and the lights…  just oilier.  I’ve caught on to the drawing mistake re the spoon handle and fixed that so I’m starting to feel the form of the spoon. I wrap it with a bit more finesse on the bowl of the spoon.  Cheers!