My first oil painting

**ja1307** · October 26th, 2012, 12:51 PM

This is my first attempt at oil painting have only played with watercolours a couple of times before this years ago. Its a study of a christmas tree bauble. Would be good to get some feed back, would be greatly appreciated. Really struggling with blending colours together. Plus the colour seems to be a lot duller after a bit of drying.

**Hexokinase** · October 26th, 2012, 01:51 PM

The bouncelight past the shadow's terminator shouldn't be brighter than the midtones. Not to mention the terminator seems a little high up. Given the direction of the cast shadow, I suspect the issue might lie in the shape of the terminator.

Do 100 more (vary the objects and light source of course).

**Elwell** · October 26th, 2012, 02:49 PM

Originally Posted by Hexokinase

The bouncelight past the shadow's terminator shouldn't be brighter than the midtones. Not to mention the terminator seems a little high up. Given the direction of the cast shadow, I suspect the issue might lie in the shape of the terminator.

That's not the terminator, that's the reflection of the edge of the table. Reflective surface behave differently than matte ones, and don't have the same sort of light/shadow pattern we're all used to. Totally matte surfaces are all diffuse reflection, totally reflective surfaces are all specular reflection, most surfaces are a combination of both to some degree.