Painting #1: Black and White Composition

This painting was a challenge for me because I have never worked with oil paints before (or any paint for that matter). The more time I spent on this painting, the more I learned how oil paints work and blend. I noticed myself painting the objects how I envision them looking at first, but towards the I end I found myself painting more organically. I painted what I really saw instead of what I thought I saw.

Composition Set-Up

Mapping out the composition using a thin layer of oil paint.

Blocking out each object.

Adding more value to each object.

Defining the table by adding creasing and highlights along the edges.

Starting to define the leaves.

Adding highlights to the lantern.

Finished Painting

I captioned the final photo "Finished Painting," but when is a painting truly complete? I definitely could add more detail, value, and highlights to my final painting, but overall I am happy with my work considering this was my first painting.