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This photo was taken on my out-of-date phone so apologies for the quality.
As you can see, the background has been filled in behind and back of the tureen and onions. I can now get an idea of the contrast between the subject and the background, and I am satisfied that the neutral greys that mainly compose the porcelain are adequate to express its white material.
I am almost tempted to leave it unfinished, with just the hint of a sketch in the foreground where the reflections will go. But that is a little contrived, so I'll soldier on - after Chrismas!
I have deferred finishing the kashkul picture until this present one is done. It's a question of what pastels are on the worktable at a particular time, and the selection that I wanted to use for this latest pastel are staying at hand until I finish (before Christmas) when I will tidy everything away back into its place and pick out the appropriate shades for continuing an earlier work. That's just how I go - not necessarily the best method of working in terms of time and motion, but hey, it's my painting, and my interest waxes and wanes depending on what I find fascinating at any particular moment. Sometimes finishing can be a chore, albeit a necessary one. And I usually get excited nearing the end of each piece.
The Onion Soup piece came about because I have a collection of decorative soup tureens picked up in garage sales, car boot sales or vide greniers/brocantes, depending on your location; the tureens are completely impractical, their only value decorative - and even that is questionable! But they make great still life subjects. So I chose one of the smaller ones, and three onions, for this set-up.
The first image shows the under-painting for the tureen and some finished colours on the left-most onions
Here we have the handle and lid pretty well done, and more under-painting on the body and a pattern emerging on the left.
Note: No white has been used thus far in this pastel!
Lid and left side of body (except bottom of same) reasonably complete. Colours are mostly Schminke neutral greys, with some Rembrandts stroked in too. I also got to use a lovely pink from my French Artisan Pastellier set.
