Olsen's Palette (work in progress, 3)

3

I'm starting to shape the tubes of paint in the picture with reinforcing washes of ivory black and Venetian red, still in casein. I want to bring out their overlapping crumpled forms, of course, but also try to impart a sense of spatial recession by varying the value contrasts from front of table to back. I'll take this stage of the process a good bit farther, remaining essentially monochromatic, as I resolve the underpainting before moving on to naturalistic colors.

Detail