Day 22. Egg on Stove

I’ve went back to the kitchen, home of Jay’s Spatulas, for Egg on Stove. I wasn’t ready to abandon the world of food.

 

Egg on Stove is my first stovetop and first single egg painting. This is a continuation of the Egg-centric series from the January 2015 Challenge, only those were all double-yolk eggs in various stages from raw, cooking, to partially cooked. Oh, I forgot the garbage disposal version.

 

In the post-Challenge world, I liked them so much that I executed a larger 16 x 20 series, this time including Egg on Purple Plate, which was exhibited in Cavalier Galleries in Manhattan.

A composite print evolved out of the 3 small challenge paintings.

Egg on Stove presents another viewpoint of an egg cooking on the stove. Instead of cropping in on the pan, I zoomed out to include the burner, grate, and knobs.

I worked on the drawing over several days. There was no room for error. Otherwise, my pencil drawings would show through the white.

The first stage was the subtlest light grey acrylic undercoating, which perhaps you can see here. It offers a bit of contrast to the white, and helps me see where I’ve painted before – and the spots I missed.

I had some cadmium yellow paint on my palette from Rainbow Cakes, and painted in the egg to anchor the painting visually. Next came the grate, the trickiest part, and the burners. A few lines were a little shaky, but they’ll be cleaned up after this dries so the white doesn’t muddy up.

With the background established, I could mix the appropriate greys for the pan. Basically Egg on Stove uses 3 tubes of paint – white, black and cadmium yellow – plus a dash of cadmium orange on the egg.

This was a painstaking process with lots of breaks. I worked slowly and methodically, keeping the painting surface smooth as befitting a stainless steel pan. Somehow the process was satisfying. Go figure. And I’m happy with Egg on Stove.

Jay and I are going to a combination anniversary-birthday lunch today, so I won’t have much painting time. I’ll be leaving my painting bubble for a few hours, which is welcome on one hand since my legs need a break (from standing while painting). At the same time, there’s a tinge of sadness and frustration that real life is encroaching. At the end of the Challenge, my growing to do list can’t be avoided for much longer.

Now I’ll shift my attention to Day 23. See you tomorrow.