A painting from start to finish: Part 1

Below I decided to record my progress on this still life.  The little blue owl is actually a kitchen timer I bought from 5 below that neither times correctly nor rings consistently...  But other wise is very cute.  He is in 2 of my paintings actually.  I may have to paint him again in different colors and settings at a future time...

I first set up a primitive still life stand, arranged my objects and carefully lit it.  I chose the things because of their relationship of shape, color and size.  And because I like each thing individually also.  In addition I took a reference photo of the still life.  Photos help me to better break down the composition.  I also use photo editing tools sometimes to add contrast to the lights and darks.

 Or take away the color to make it monochrome

...Or blur it to replicate what happens when you squint.  Squinting is important when trying to see the large areas of light and dark.  I have a photo editing tool as an app on my ipad.  I forget the app, but there are quite a few great, and FREE photo editing apps out there that are wonderful for artists.  The tools available to artists today, versus 5 years ago is just staggering. 

...Next post will have the actual painting.