 1 Rose Vase 1st stage; Made my own 50x40cm canvas board, prepared the surface, sketched in charcoal then sealed this with a clear medium so it can't affect the oil paint afterwards. So far about 5hrs. |
 2 Rose Vase 2nd stage; Now on with the oil paints. This isn't going to be a monochrome painting as the colour will come later. This will be a detailed under-painting done en-verdaccio (Oxide of Chromium Mars Black Flake White) this is to achieve a realistic black and white photo effect. Carefully added the graduated background. So far 9 hrs. |
 3 Rose Vase 3rd stage; Working on rendering the less challenging areas to get the values balanced. I takes at least a few days drying before I can go over this again to detail it. I intend to add some Poppy Oil that makes oil paint dry faster. Next is the delicate flowers which will take some careful painting. The main thing you need is lots of patience as I'm now at 18hrs. |
 4 Rose Vase 4th stage; A bit more work on the vase. Tidying up edge detail and rendering. Just now starting on the rose petals all with a very small brush (2/0). 22hrs. |
 5 Rose Vase 5th stage; Now that initial layer has dried enough most of the painting has had an additional layer to smooth the rendering and increase the contrast and adjust the tonal ballance. So far I'm happy it is looking more real. I hope over the next few days the flowers should stand out much more as at the moment they have just an underpainting. Now at 30hrs. |
 6 Rose Vase 6th stage; Have been building up thin layers to get subtle graduations on the rose petals. This is probably the most challenging bit to get right. Still got lots more of this to complete. 39hrs. |
 7 Rose Vase 7th stage; More work on the petals adding rendering with a palette of a narrow range of values of light greys. Slowly the roses are coming to life even if still in shades of grey. Although this is an underpainting in monochrome it has to be the perfect finished work so no cutting corners. 45hrs. |
 8 Rose Vase 8th stage; Roses nearing completion now with some edge detailing to sort out, some render smoothing with a light glazes. Sometimes feels like nothing is happening till you compare it to the last. Quite enjoy the latter stages when you can see the results. Keen to get onto the COLOUR! 51hrs. |
 9 Rose Vase 9th stage; A little bit more detailing on the roses mainly to edge sharpening and smoothing the rendering. 53hrs. |
 10 Rose Vase 10th stage; An awful lot of detailing with a tiny wee brush (10/0). A layer of Winsor and Newton Liquin Fine Detail was applied and left for a day to dry. Then added just a little Liquin to thin the oil paint to allow detailing with a tiny brush and some mono-glazing to smooth some of the petal rendering. The monochrome under-painting is now complete. 63hrs. |
 11 Rose Vase 11th stage; Thin transparent layers of paint will build colour onto the monochrome values beneath. Looks a bit odd at the moment but it will develop into a full colour painting. Background in Mars Violet Deep, Ultramarine Violet and Rose. Vase in Jaune Brillant. 64hrs. |
 12 Rose Vase 12th stage; Much more colourful after quite a bit of work on it. It's getting there but a bit more to do that will give it more depth and realism. 74hrs. |
 13 Rose Vase 13th stage; The rose on the table now becoming more realistic. Also added light and dark glazes to the vase so it looks more rounded. 78hrs. |
 14 Rose Vase 14th stage; Most of the work done on the vase roses taking them much closer to the original colours. 89hrs. |
 15 Rose Vase 15th stage; Going over the painting fixing and adjusting where necessay so just a little more to do. |
 16 Rose Vase 16th stage; Almost done with the roses and also just a bit of adjusting elsewhere to finish. 107hrs. |
 17 Rose Vase 17th stage; It's now all but done. Just need to wait till this layer is dry and the final touches can be added. 114hrs. |
 18 Rose Vase 18th stage; Complete! 115hrs. |
 19 Rose Vase Completed painting - scanned so it looks just like the real thing. |