I painted this for the the Calypso Moon Artist Movement challenge. Alice Thompson asked us to paint food that is bad for us. Now pizza, you may say, is not that bad. Well it is when you don't stop at two or three slices. But pizza is also good, and it's good with beer, which is also good in moderation. Very likely, pizza and beer was the menu for my first ever dinner party. It still makes a good dinner party. Tonight we're dining al fresco.
The toppings on the pizza proved challenging to paint. It's a random jumble of color and shadows, and it was difficult to keep track of all the little bits and keep it looking lively and appetizing. This is a 9x12 watercolor.
This is a terrific painting Barbara. The topping vegies don't look like they gave you any trouble at all! This makes me kind of hungry!
ReplyDeleteits superb. I'm starting a collection of your artwork on my computer as of now. This is one I'd love to own as well. Seems like you knocked this challenge to the fences
ReplyDeleteThis is a great painting, happened to see it while browsing Calypso Moon blog.
ReplyDeleteHi Barbara - my favorite thing is to find a 'sit outdoors' pizza place and have just what you painted! To begin with, I love the fractured light shadowing off the frosty beer mug onto the table creating cool shadows and sparks of refractured light. The sunlight the key player in your painting! The perspective lines of the spaces between the wood of the table leads a viewers eye diagonally across the picture plane - then the oppositionally placed pizza plate and beer mug create a nice balance. The negative space at the top left and shadow across the table - top right strike harmony causing a subtle crisscrossing effect that keep my eye traveling back to the focal point, the beer and pizza. The shadows in the foreground, going off the canvas really help with that knowledge of the time of day. Lovely use of color (and I know we are just supposed to critique 'composition') your watercolor technique and execution make your painting SING! One more thing...can we eat now?
ReplyDeleteBarbara, the mushrooms are fantastic! The refraction of the light from the beer mug is stellar. The composition gives so much information time of day, temperature, ...the texture of the table...very sensual.
ReplyDelete(Polite beer burp escapes her lips.. excuse me)
Very nice finish and I love the light through the beer.
ReplyDeleteBarbara, - love this. The part that attracts my eye to most is the mug of beer. The transparent shadow and light peeking through is wonderful. The composition is strong as well. The dark diagonals give nice energy and motion, but the placement of the lighter circular elements keep the eyes dancing within the frame. Love your treatment of textures-the wood and the glass in particular. My only suggestion would be to find some sharper edges for the pizza ingredients - but that may just be the nature of jpeg files. A little definition of the pizza toppings would make the piece even stronger. Wonderful job, wonderful composition, wonderful techniques.
ReplyDeleteWaiter, check please!!
Thank you all for your great encouragement. It's like air in my balloon, and only makes me want to paint more.
ReplyDeleteBarbara, this painting is amazing!
ReplyDeletethis painting is amazing,it's so realistic.The way the pizza drops in the plate's hollow would show me this pizza is too soft for my taste, (I suppose it stayed 1 mn too much in the microwave!)I prefer it more crusty!l can see the details of the table's wood under the sun, and, as everybody says, the composition is great!
Thank you for dropping on my blog, too.
I just want to sit down, take a bite of that yummy pizza and a sip of the cold beer in that beautifully reflective glass mug.
ReplyDeleteBarbara, You have perfectly captured one of my favorite meals. Your attention to detail is right on, from the effervescence of the half finished sunlight beer mug to the Dalian "Persistence of Memory" attitude of the slice of pizza. Nicely done!
ReplyDeleteHoning in on details can sometimes introduce proportionality problems. As your experience grows, you have less problems getting the proportions perfectly.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot to like about this painting Barbara but I'm going to tell you what bothers me. The large dark vertical strip on the top left and the heavy shadow under the plate that curves is very distracting and competes with the main focul point, which for me is that gleaming golden ray of light bouncing and refracting through the glass.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, Your refelctions are stunning. I love this.
ReplyDelete