18" x 24" - oil

From the Oil Painter's Journal: Tea for Three When I worked in a photo studio shooting objects that had reflective surfaces we spent most of our time trying to set up the lighting in such a way that you couldn't see the camera or the lights. It's virtually impossible. There are tricks you can use like putting dark backgrounds behind the camera to camouflage it or shaping light reflective surfaces to model the way light wraps around the subject. Since that time, whenever I see photos of shiny objects, as in watch, alcohol or car ads, I have to figure out how the primary light source and the reflective surfaces were set up. Once seen, it's hard to believe you didn't notice it before. The challenge of this painting was portraying the qualities of the three different teapot materials: ceramic, tin and pearlescent. The pot on the left most clearly shows the set-up. There is the fish-eye view of the window looking out on sky, trees and sunlit grass; yours truly at the easel; and the incandescent warm light source at the right above the mirrored lemon. The teapot on the right shows the round shape of the spotlight since highlites always are in the shape of the light source (usually rectangular for windows and round for lights.) Each surface reveals the cool square daylight/warm round spotlight relationship in its own way with the tin pot diffusing and dulling in direct proportion to its' matte surface.