Spectrum Lights

I had the image of this painting in my head for quite a while before I ever put pencil to paper.

I collected tinted bottles all summer and just squirreled them away.

On a bright, sunny day I brought my carefully hoarded collection to my patio table.

To capture more elongated shadows,  I set up on a large board and inclined it as far as I dared with some close, everything fall to the ground and crash, calls.

The brillant light was my main interest in this painting.

Everything from the tinted shadows it cast onto the fabric, the areas of fabric disappearing

under the glare and the reflections from one surface to another.

This is a large piece so all that was a bit daunting
but it helped to keep a "one thing at a time" attitude.

"Light Reigns"

Watercolor, 15" x 25"

©Carmella Tuliszewski

The title comes from, the power of the light cast throughout the scene
but also, the feeling of the bottles cascading down through the picture plane.
The vertical stripes, I hope, add to the pouring, raining effect of color and light.

 I generally work from light to dark.

But when painting glass I first cover a few select spots with resist to preserve the whites.
Next I lay in the lightest wash of color visible on the glass.
Then I go straight to the darkest color value.

 Once that is in place, I begin to work in all the
middle values with interlocking shapes of color.

Some of these bottles will appear again in future still lives.
And I have some crazy shaped clear bottles and vases I'd like to try.

But for now I have a yen for flowers, maybe some Christmas flowers!

Thank you so much for stopping by :)