Refractions and Reflections

Hoff, "Morning Light," oil on panel, 6x8, 2010

Still life in the studio during the colder months gives the chance to practice--in my work these last few days and weeks I've begun to re-explore an old interest--light, glass, and water.

Studying the way light is reflected and refracted by glass and water and what that alteration of light does to various objects is an endlessly engaging pursuit. Part of my previous sketch series of Windowsill Works involved in studying just that (right). The way light changes from morning to afternoon is particularly fascinating.

Hoff, "Two Bottles," oil on panel, 6x8

So here are a couple of small oil paintings done in a similar format to that long-ago series. These are part of increasing work in tangible materials rather than pixels. While digital drawing, and to a lesser extent, painting, provide great opportunities for quick and simple practice, there is simply nothing like working with real materials. These paintings in oil were done on small supports with a generally short time limit. The short time limit is to promote simplification, simple strokes, and an attitude of "place a stroke and leave it alone," which in turn promotes more calculating observation and mark-making. In these I've explored composition, trying to make brush strokes simple and varying edges to emphasize areas of interest. "Two Bottles," was the first of these re-examinations. I softened and blended edges, especially in the background, to make the green bottle stand out. Likewise the golden bottle has few hard edges.

Hoff, "Two Bottles Too," oil on panel, 6x8

Sometimes it's reflections that strike my interest, as in the windowsill painting of two bottles, one in shadow and one in bright light (below). In this painting, it was important to me to study the way light was reflected from various contrasting surfaces in the green bottle. The bottle on the left was in a beam of sunshine, and glowed brightly in contrast to the green one. Here again one of the goals was to work on edges.

Hoff, "Water Bottle," oil on panel, 6x8

One more bottle in this series is another translucent plastic water bottle (below). In this case my main effort was an accurate study of the water within, and how it reflected and bent the sunbeam streaming onto my studio table from the left. The drawing was less important than the light, but again edges were an important part of this work. In this case, too, I painted into a couch, an ultra-thin layer of linseed oil, which alters how paint handles.

As January proceeds, I'm hoping to do at least one small painting every day, although I'm already a bit behind. More to come.