Still-life painting in oils, one letter a week

Dear reader,

This week I painted pears for the second time.^{Note 11}1 Still life: a painting of objects that do not move, such as fruit, jugs or flowers, arranged on a table. The first time was in the second letter, back in September, and I wanted to see what a month had changed. I bought three pears of the same kind on Monday, put them on the same plate by the same window and painted them on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.

I use a small canvas because it is quick, and I start with the darkest shapes in thin paint.^{Note 22}2 Shadow: the darker side of an object, away from the light, where its colour often changes. The pears are never the colour I expect. In the shadow they go green and brown, and where the window light touches them they turn almost white. I paint what I see on the plate, not what I know about pears.

The second painting was calmer than the first, which is the point of doing it twice.^{Note 33}3 Wet: paint that has not yet dried. Oil paint stays wet for days, which lets you change it. I stopped sooner, left more of the plate bare and used fewer colours. I wrote down both and put them side by side. People often decide a painting is wrong while it is still wet, and then they cannot tell what they learned.

On Thursday I will hang both on the shelf and leave them a week. If you have a pear, paint it this week and paint it again in a month. Next time I will paint a plain cup and a spoon.