After being an artist for most of my life, I finally decided it was time to take oil painting lessons. What stimulated this? Seeing two specific groups of breathtaking oil paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. Lofty, I know. It took two years to start lessons. The course I just finished consisted of four sessions of "alla prima" painting instruction with Ursula Stocke of Everett, WA. Alla prima loosely translates to "all at once." The painting is often completed in one session, with wet-into-wet paint applied quite impressionistically.
At our third session, a still life featuring a Chianti bottle (what could be more classic?) and olive oil bottle was first sketched directly on the canvas with burnt sienna paint. Hmm. Those bottles look a bit wobbly. A second similar value study sketch was made below the first (less wobbly the second time), after which I applied the color over the sketch. We focused on using only primary colors and a few earth tones, plus white, in order to practice mixing colors.
Below is a painting I did at home. While at the market I was very taken by the beautiful bunch of spring onions, so they became my subject. As a backdrop I used black ikat-woven fabric and took a deep breath before launching into trying to capture it all on canvas. Last week I started my first plein air painting up at a friend's cabin.
Oil painting, at last.
Jocelyn Curry 
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