Continuing with my oil painting practice, I recently set up a complex still life with lots of visual information to challenge myself and see how I could resolve it with oils.

This piece came together over the span of a few weeks. Painting from life instead of a photo was a completely different experience. One day, I accidentally moved the lamp that was illuminating the setup, which forced me to rework all of the lighting. The perspective also kept shifting slightly as I moved and rearranged my easel during the process.

I’m finding it hard to always stick to the “rules” of oil painting—I tend to work more intuitively than technically. I even caught myself using the same brush for most of the painting. It’s the same approach I take when I paint abstracts: instinct first, technique second.

Next, I’m planning a landscape and another portrait, but before that, I want to do a series of small sketches to improve at simplifying light and shadow.

I’m documenting the entire process and will be sharing all of my studies and practice pieces here soon.