We shot half of an oil painting video way back in January, and here I am in the November trying to tie up all the loose ends. I remember thinking at the time, “Paint a still life in oil? No problem!!” Actually, it ended up being quite possibly the most problematic still life I have ever set up in my life.
I knew what I was getting into with the lobster, so it was obvious from the beginning that I would be painting at least 2 lobsters at 2 separate times. What I didn’t count on was the dragon eyes (fruit that look like giant brown grapes with a tough skin on them) falling off the still life, the daikon radish wilting incredibly fast, and the jack fruit growing mold within two days. Did I mention that at one point the blue plate fell on the floor and broke into many pieces? And that the grapefruit on the right turned into two navel oranges, which are now two absurdly large minneolas? Then there were all the tweaks that were added, like the red drapery that got adjusted and the bamboo leaves that were added behind the lobster to get better color contrast.
At this point, I just want to get it done. I really don’t like letting work sit around incomplete for this long, and the fact that its been many months has been pretty painful to watch. My goal is to finish this oil painting video by the end of the year, so I better have a finished product soon!!
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Clara Lieu 