...thanks for sharing.

That is beyond good. Please do more and let us buy some.

Very well done!

Congratulations! I've been painting too, after having not painted for several decades. Your work is inspiring.

A+++

Oil?

and I can't even see it, except for a little edge at the top.

If so then Rembrandt must be possessing your body while you paint. There is very advanced technique used, so I have to think you have been painting for some time.

The reason I bring Rembrandt up is because of the dark colors, the dark backgrounds. I am an artist myself and I read a lot of art every day, it is my passion, so I can see the results are not that of a beginner. I do mostly portraits, and once in a while, when I can't sleep I will get my acrylics out and do some contemporary stuff, quite the opposite from the realism of my portraits.

Keep it up, you definitely have the technique and the talent. Oh, and the patience to do still life.

If you don't mind telling, where was the class taught?

This was the product of a short seminar in which we were taught how to prepare the canvas, do the preliminary drawing, given some paint to mix our own colors and then complete the painting, all in four days, without the paint ever drying. Everything I'd done before was in a once-a-week class where the paint would dry so I'd paint in layers and use glazes (traditional techniques, including verdaccio). I've been afraid to do portaits because it's so hard to get the eyes to point in the same direction.

The classes are at a small art school called The Art Academy in St. Paul, MN. If there's anybody in the area who wants to learn to draw and paint in a structured, traditional way that emphasizes learning basic techniques first, I can't recommend them highly enough.

He handed out the paint and had us mix the colors we wanted. It was a great exercise.

I came out of retirement so I could live there and enjoy all the art. My favorite section was the Dutch masters. What they did with the tables of glass ware and silver servicing dishes (with the obligatory fruit) kept me spellbound. I started lessons a few years ago when I first retired and got hooked on painting my friends cats and dogs 😬

Maybe I'll do all three of them. Fur is challenging.

how to paint in the style of the old masters. The paintings her students create using this technique, often from a photograph, are just amazing in how realistic they are.

The orange wasn't done that way - that was direct painting done over only a few days - but he teaches an entire course on Renaissance painting techniques. It takes a long time to do one because they have many layers, but you can get really good results if you do it the old-fashioned way. Those old guys knew what they were doing.

I'll be able to take her up on her offer for me to visit and her to teach me next year.

Was it with oil or acrylic?

Thank you for sharing.

Something orange... coming undone and being revealed...

I have to confess that it took me a while to get it...excellent...

At 1st I thought "this person is thinking too much about the painting", then I got it and started laughing hard...

You met the challenge very well! It just draws you right in to the distinct elements from your use of colors to create a distinct contrast, to your depiction of hard surfaces with straight lines in combined with the soft glowing and fluid lines of the fruit. Your composition is noteworthy too. The fruit is just off center which to me gives the painting just a touch of visual tension to hold the viewer.

Fake a Ver Meer and sell it for $10 million to a Trumper. Then you'll know you've made it.

It is gorgeous. You have real talent! I mean true professional artist talent! Keep going!

I'm keeping at it. Some paintings are turning out better than others, of course.

Great Chiaroscuro! You must've been a Dutch master in a past life, I dare say.

Thank you for sharing this - and Kudos!

Apparently you are talented. Good thing you discovered it!

The only time I tried oils was in middle school and all I could think to do was outline and fill in my subjects. I did some drawings that weren't so bad, some reasonably not horrible watercolors, a sculpture I liked, and have done some not bad graphics work. But I never tried oils again!

You just let the paint dry and paint over whatever didn't work. You can't fix mistakes in a water color. Take another shot at oils. They are a little messy but very versatile.

However, as bad as mine was, if would've taken a hell of a lot of painting over! Yours is in a professional looking style. Mine was like a coloring book, and not in the nice Japanese style way.

Seriously, well done!

The orange with its thin veneer of protection unraveling can also be seen as a subliminal message related to current impeachment activities.

Well done!!!

Thanks, though!

were into photography, I thought it was an actual photo of a peeled orange. Wow...amazing!

WOW

WELL DONE

MORE PLEASE!!!

That is gorgeous. Congrats on your talent!

Is that oil, water or acrylic?

You peeled off a good one.

...peeling it, and enjoy the succulent segments.

Outstanding -

Have a craving for a screwdriver.

Just wow!!!!! This is right up there with the old masters! Good for you, we can’t focus on Trump and republicans all the time, it will make us sick.

And light/shadow contrasting is brilliant.

You are seriously talented!

Sometimes you need an extra pair of educated eyes to show you what you're missing.

I have been moving and just finished hanging a painting a friend did for me several years ago ( on commission). She took up painting in her retirement, too. You may have a second career opportunity available!

F’ing Amazing!!!

You don’t just see - you feel

Beautiful

It's beautiful. Yes, it's realistic almost like a photograph. But somehow it is more. . . . enchanting than a photograph.

Yes, that's it. It is a transcendent orange. And you have painter's magic.

Of course, this is only partial nudity........

Great job TVO and no better diversion and emotional relief in retirement during these tumultuous times.

I love the way you use shadowing, just like your Clarence Darrow......

You are talented.

going on there!

That, itself, is an art, and it's more complicated than I expected.

So that we'd be able to keep painting the subject with consistent lighting and from the same aspect, the instructor had us use a photograph as a model instead of "live" objects. Having also tried to paint "live" still lifes in another seminar I don't think one way of doing it is easier or harder than the other, but for the purposes of this class it made more sense to use a photo. So that's really to the photographer's credit, not mine.

I am envious of talent such as yours

The object takes it's rightful place (and my eye) but you really nailed the light and shadow.

That is absolutely amazing! What a talent you have!!! I love it.

but then i discovered prussian blue. so much better than ultramarine.

Beautiful!

so when you say you were given colors to mix your own....

so were you given.... red and yellow to make your own oranges for example?

also how big is it?

great painting!

The instructor said that if you're not sure what color something is, it's probably orange. I found I had to add more red than I expected to get a proper orange orange.

looks like a detail from an old dutch Master---maybe Rembrandt.

I’ve always wished I had some artistic talent. I can write but that’s it! That is gorgeous and I love the second portrait you posted, as well.

I am a pretty tough art critic too. I got my BFA (Bach Fine Arts) degree and that is better than what I have seen from when I was in art school, and even after art school. Well done!!!

painting but it is obvious to me that you have a lot of real talent, instructor standing behind you or not.

Thanks for adding some more beauty to the world!

astounding

Anyone would be delighted to have this hanging on their walls!

Looks like a fine arts painting.

That painting kinda can't be taught. You have solid talent.

I love the color contrasts and the "lighting" on it.

You’re really gifted, my friend.

Looks good enough to eat!

Great work, very talented.

What a lovely painting! You captured the texture and light so well. I, too, painted, in a series of classes, a still life of clementines. I live in Maine and, of course, have enjoyed painting land and seascapes. However, since I like painting from life rather than photographs, still lifes in our long dark winters became my focus with citrus and pears being my favored subjects. Enjoy the exploration.

That is simply beautiful. Keep painting!

Beautiful.!

You have talent.