# A candle in the window -- WIP



## TerryCurley

I haven't done a work in process in awhile so I decided it was time. So here it is: 

This is the plan of the painting. If I'm not painting from a picture or a tutorial I will do a simple layout sketch of what I want to do.


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After making a plan I put the plan on the canvas:


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Then I wanted to paint the background in acrylic so I took masking tape and taped the areas that I didn't want to get the acrylic paint on. First I taped so I could paint the window and the table area. (this is just underpainting)


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Then I remove that tape and taped so I could paint the wall area.


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After removing the tape the background underpainting is done and I'm ready to start doing the oil painting ---tomorrow.


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## FanKi

jjjmmmm I think this is going to be awesome


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## Butterfly88

^me too!!!!!


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## chanda95

Can't wait to see this as it progresses. Brings back memories of my grandmother who always put candles in her front windows at Christmas.


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## TerryCurley

I get a little nervous these days doing WIP. I have embarrassed myself several times doing a WIP. You have no idea how many paintings I do that come out just awful. I had two rose pictures I was working on that ended up in the garbage just last week. I was trying something different and nope in this case the different made it much worse. In fact both paintings were horrible and you will never see them. Luckily they were only 8x10 which is a very small investment of money.


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## dickhutchings

You usually paint in oils correct?


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## TerryCurley

dickhutchings said:


> You usually paint in oils correct?


Yes, but I often use acrylic underpainting. On this painting I'm doing the candle stick holder in acrylic and underpainted the rest of the painting in acrylic.


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## TerryCurley

*Today's progress.*

Here's what I did today. This painting has a long way to go yet. The photo was taken indoors so the dark colors don't show up too well.


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## dickhutchings

I like it so far. Can't wait to see where you go with it.


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## TerryCurley

I worked a little more on it this morning. You would not believe the mess I made splattering the snow onto the canvas! 

What I have left to do is: 
> put in the reflection of candle in the window. 
> put in the window wood going across. I don't know what it's called but it will be kind of like lattice only well spread out.
> Put some wax dripping on the candle.
> Put three holly leaves with berries on the table under the window.

I've decided to wait until what I have done has dried before I do any of these things.

Question....Do you think the candlestick holder looks grounded on the table? I'm not sure how I would get it more so and am open to suggestions. BTW the candlestick holder is done with Gold Leaf. Impossible for me to get the effect in the photo.


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## dickhutchings

I find the light around the flame to be a little strong and distracting. Everything else is looking great to my inexperienced eye. The candle looks grounded to me.


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## TerryCurley

dickhutchings said:


> I find the light around the flame to be a little strong and distracting. Everything else is looking great to my inexperienced eye. The candle looks grounded to me.


I think you are right about the glow around the candle. I haven't decided whether or not to dull it. I'd be interested in what other's say about it too. I'm looking to emphasize the warmth of the candle. The major idea of the painting is contrasting the cold outside to the warmth of the inside.


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## TerryCurley

I took down the aura just a bit. Do you think it's still too strong Dick?

Another thing I'm concerned about is the highlighting on the candle and candle holder. It is a snowy day out so there is no sun per se. Did I get carried away on the brightness?


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## dickhutchings

I think it looks awesome now! It looks like there's plenty of light coming in through the window to reflect on the candle. That's a little too technical for me.

Where's the deer? Just kidding.


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## just

You might want to look at De Vinci's, works. He was the master of light, even candle light.


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## TerryCurley

*Finished?*

I think I might be done with this...but you know how it goes...there is always something to change. What do you think?

The photo is dark and you can hardly see the holly on the counter, but it's drizzling out so this is the best picture I could get indoors.


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## dickhutchings

Wow! I like it a lot. Especially the outside candle. It's not exactly realistic to my eye but I think it makes the picture fun to look at.


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## chanda95

TerryCurley said:


> I think I might be done with this...but you know how it goes...there is always something to change. What do you think?
> 
> The photo is dark and you can hardly see the holly on the counter, but it's drizzling out so this is the best picture I could get indoors.


Ok. I am going to be perfectly honest. I really like most of the changes but I do not like the candle reflection in the window. I personally feel it is too vivid and detracts from the realism. Look carefully at window reflections and you will see that often you won't see the entire element being reflected and it will be as though it is diffused. I don't know if I made sense but if you google "candle in window" and look at the images maybe that will help clarify what I am trying to explain. Also, outside lighting has a lot to do with the type of reflection thrown. The darker it is the more visible the reflection. With as light as your background is I would almost say you wouldn't need a reflection aside from maybe a diffused flame..

Now if this was a mirror I would say you don't need to change a thing but window reflections are vastly different.

Everything else though is two thumbs up for me. I really like this image overall. Another one to be proud of.


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## dickhutchings

chanda95 said:


> I personally feel it is too vivid and detracts from the realism.
> 
> Everything else though is two thumbs up for me. I really like this image overall. Another one to be proud of.


That's true but for some reason, I still like it. What do I know.
:biggrin:


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## Asancta

Look at this one and compare to yours.If you like realism then your image is pretty off.Outside your window is way too light for the candle to reflect like that,the candle would reflect something like int he water and only part of it,there is not enough glow around objects...you can light a candle and see it by yourself.


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## just

There wouldn't be a reflection of the candle from the angle of the viewers. The glow of the candle should be shown in contrast with fade into darkness else it would not have such a bright glow.


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## TerryCurley

This is why I love you guys. You are really helping me. OK -- reflection is out of here. I'm not sure I'm understanding what you, Victoria, and you Dave are saying about the glow. I know I can be dense, sorry about that.


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## just

The glow isn't that bright unless the background is dark.


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## chanda95

TerryCurley said:


> This is why I love you guys. You are really helping me. OK -- reflection is out of here. I'm not sure I'm understanding what you, Victoria, and you Dave are saying about the glow. I know I can be dense, sorry about that.


I like this much better Terry. With the glow - your glow is harsh all the way to the edges and it is a tad too bright. It shouldn't be as bright as the flame.. You need to gradually blend it from bright in the middle (but again not as bright as the flame) to where it fades out at the edges. Right now it almost looks like you have a round blob of light around your flame and there is very little in the way of fade out. Does that make sense? 

Like so..


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## chanda95

I also think if you warmed up your glow it might help. Right now it's too yellow.


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## dickhutchings

Looks like they're giving good advice and putting you to work on this one Terry. I'd like to see a better glow as well. I have no idea how much work and talent goes in to painting a realistic candle glow but I bet it will be worth learning.


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## TerryCurley

How is this? Anything else?

OK Looking at the painting I made the flame too large. It's also kind of orange but the camera shows it yellow...Don't know how that happens.


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## TerryCurley

What do you think? Anything else?


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## dickhutchings

That's a big improvement. Now I'm asking myself, if she can fix it so easily, maybe she liked it the way it was? I liked it but this is much closer to real and I like it as well.


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## just

You have to decide if you want the candle or the window to be the main source of light. Right now you're showing signs that both are stroger. The shadow of the candle is too prominent for the candle to be the strongest and the lighting of the holly shows that the candle is the stronger of the two. There are other occurrences of this too.


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## TerryCurley

just said:


> You have to decide if you want the candle or the window to be the main source of light. Right now you're showing signs that both are stroger. The shadow of the candle is too prominent for the candle to be the strongest and the lighting of the holly shows that the candle is the stronger of the two. There are other occurrences of this too.


Hmmm -- Originally I wanted the candle to be the source of the light, and I started out with the window being very grey, but when I added all the snow...well it brightened up so I figured I needed to acknowledge that light by adding some gleam to the candlestick holder and holly and the candle and brighten the counter a bit. No doubt I have a long way to go yet on my composition skills but I have made lots of improvement since I started painting.


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## just

Yes you have made great progress. Multiple light sources with different types of light and painted without a model isn't easy. Light is the most important element of a piece. Never take it lightly.


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## FanKi

Wooooow, that glow change made the hole pic terry. I really like it ._.


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