Desk

Desk
Acrylic on archival paper
8” x 10”
Chris Breier © 2015

The original painting is available.
This is the same desk that was featured in the “Library” painting that I posted a few days ago. There are a number of interesting challenges to paint, the transparancy of the lenses was probably the area that I spent the most time refining. The glasses in that era had longer arms that wrapped around the ear and these were a little misshapen, the one arm seemed to be leaning inwards.

Library

Library
Acrylic on paper
8” x 10”
Chris Breier © 2013

This is a corner of the library at the Sonnenberg Mansion, I could imagine myself sitting at this desk writing letters with a dip pen.

I enjoyed painting the warm colors of the woodwork; the color of the wood changes dramatically depending on the lighting. The glossy varnish reflects the light from the window so some areas of the wood are almost the same color as the window. The other colors of the desk range from deep orange and dark browns. There were stacks of white chairs for a wedding party outside of the window but I completely edited them out, it’s important to remove the distracting elements.

The globe was a fun object to paint, I wanted to handle it in a painterly manner. The base is a dark oval with a touch of white for the highlight. It’s interesting how a small touch of white can create the illusion of glossiness.

This painting received an honorable mention in the Artist's Magazine annual competition, and was featured in the December 2015 issue.