Title and Medium
Blue Bottle Mango. 25x30cm. Acrylic on canvas.
Artist's Statement
Quite a challenge. I found a blue bottle at a friend's place. I liked the bottle on its side with the blue glow shadow on the counter. I had a nice shiny apple which was too small for the bottle so I switched for a larger more exotic matte finish mango.
I wasn't sure what to do about a background because the back of the counter top was empty. I decided to use the same colors as the mango, different tone, contrasting the blue bottle thinking that the effect might be something like Van Gogh's "Sunflowers"
What I'd Do Differently
- I like it but there are things I would do differently.
- Rethink the background or make it less busy.
- The bottle shape and glass appearance could be better.
- The shadow under the mango doesn't seem right. I glazed it with blue, red, green, orange, I'm missing something but it feels too dark.
- The shadow lines around the part that attaches to the tree are a little heavy handed.
- In real life the mango hasn't got a great tonal range or bright reflections but I think I've captured the shape.
Marion Boddy-Evans, Painting Guide, says:
Still lifes are deceptive. We tend to assume it'll be easy because the objects depicted are so familiar to us. But once you start deciding just what you'll include, where to place them, etc. you're faced with lots of options. You don't have to have a background; depending on your viewpoint you'd be able to see all of the object on a table top for instance.
