Choose a light source that interests you.With a good variety of objects on hand take as long as you need to set up your subject before painting.
Draw very carefully your composition. Before you delineate the forms in relationship to one another you must work out the placement of the forms within the perimeters of the canvas. Don’t forget the plum line. Look for interesting patterns of light and shadow as they impose another layer of composition. Start your painting with a wet solution of turpentine and umber oil color because the umbers have a quick drying time and also allow for a warm dark tone in the shadows. I use a large bristle brush and a rag or paper towels so I can put on the paint broadly and make changes fast to accommodate my working out of the proportions and relationships. This is often the most exciting part of the experience for me. There is something mysterious that happens when you work this way. I believe that the right composition of proportions of shapes can produce on the human observer an opening to other dimensions of reality much as the relationships in sound or words can affect a transcendent experience in music or poetry.
As you have been setting up your subject and working out the composition you have been subconsciously familiarizing yourself with the colors. You will begin to get an idea of color combinations you want to use. Take your time and study the colors you see. Simplify as much as possible into warm and cool scenarios. Think in terms of layers of warm over cool or cool over warm and build up a sense of the atmosphere which surrounds and becomes a part of the forms. Forms that are harmoniously composed create a higher entity.
