Today I did a wee bit more to the 'Tea And Oranges' painting. Just adding a layer of colour on top of the grey tonal values layer.

As you can see the paint is still quite thin - 3 parts thinner to 1 part medium, so it still looks a little 'subdued'. I can't wait to get started on the next layers where i can brighten it up a little.

The only troubling thing is that the medium (artisan fast drying), is separating from the thinner (artisan thinner), and I keep having to whirl it around with the bottom of the paintbrush. It's turning gloopy, so maybe i'll have to look into trying another medium, or check to see if the fast drying medium has somehow spoiled by sitting on my shelf for too long. I'll do a bit of research on the net, and see if anyone else has had this problem.

As always, hope you're having a creative day and i'll see ye tomorra!

​Davy

I'm enjoying posting about the progress of the Duke Of Wellington piece, so here's an up to date report on how i'm getting along with the "Tea And Oranges" painting too.

I've just completed the wee grisaille as you can see. This is the third stage so far for this work. I had originally sketched each little component part of the composition as a wee 'quiz' back in July. 

When this sketch was finished I copied it as a rough outline onto canvas, and added in a tiny bit of shading with some burnt umber acrylic mix.

​You'll notice that I tend to use a ground canvas - meaning I don't paint against white. It helps for when i'm trying to get the tonal values correct.

I'm looking forward to posting the next stage, where the piece should be a lot more colourful.

If you're wondering what the title of the piece means - it's a tribute to Leonard Cohen's song 'Suzanne'.

"She feeds you tea and oranges, that come all the way from China"

Have a creative day and i'll see ye tomorra!

​Davy