Design and Drawing Completed
This painting was going to painted by using a palette knife, I wanted to challenge myself to create the effect of a candle with flickering reflections in the background.
I drew around the canvas to have the true size of the painting, I then drew the candle and dish and designed the holly to complement and give a sense of depth.
Drawing Outline Painted Using Paint
I traced the image onto canvas, then went over the outline with paint. This way the drawing doesn’t get lost when painting .
Blocked Background Under Painting
I mixed colours for the background and loosely blocked in the background and the area around the candle. I mixed a combination of all colours used to block in the dish. I then mixed colour and blocked in the foreground.
More Detail Added
Mixing greens I blocked in the holly, reds for the berries. I quickly went over bits to tidy up the shapes , this completed the underpainting.
More Detail Needed
I started mixing the background colours and using a palette knife to paint, each application having to be thought about.
Using My Rotating Easel
The candle flames were the most difficult to create the effects of the flames diminishing as I worked away from the flames, the rotating easel made this easier to achieve this .
Jon Applying The Highlights With Palette Knife
The final touches on this painting were the highlights, carefully adding these where needed brought the painting together and I was pleased with the finished piece.
Painting Completed
I hope you like the various stages of the painting and how it was created, palette knife painting to me is very fulfilling and well worth the time taken in creating it.