"Movie Night" (11x14 oil on panel) painting process

Just finished a new still life painting. My posts will be a mixture of past works and brand new works such as this one. While you're waiting for the full painting at the end of this post, here's some popcorn for you:

Here is the physical setup for the painting. I spent some time fussing with the popcorn to make a 'pleasing' pile, lols:

First stage. After the simple umber block in, squinting to get the basic value relationships:

Next stage:

Next stage. Starting to add some definition in the popcorn bowl, and getting the knife started:

Next stage:

Next stage. Starting to pay special attention to the kernels in the foreground:

Next stage. I realize that I'm starting to lose my way in the popcorn bowl. I jumped ahead too quickly into detail without making sure the overall values are good. So I squint, simplify, paint over:

Next stage. Getting into those cloth wrinkles:

Next stage. Droplets like these are both fun to paint and to view. My wife had to lean closer to see if they were real, which is satisfying ;). Ironically these "parlor trick" areas are the easiest and least time consuming to paint.

And here is the finished painting, "Movie Night" (11x14 oil on panel):

Thanks for reading! -David

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