Meléndez's stunning realism with light and color... Dürer's ever so fine hatching and crosshatching... I think I could study them every day for a very long time. Here's a link to a couple of the Meléndez paintings. I only found one picture of my favorite on the web--a single bream fish with other foods--but the reproduction was so poor that it just wouldn't work. You see, the lighting on the fish's scales was so real. I was looking at a real fish glistening in the light. The MFA doesn't have Dürer's images available yet but they are easily Googleable.
It's interesting to note the tomatoes in Meléndez's paintings from the mid 1700's. The fruit are all deeply lobed and furrowed, like what we see depicted in seed catalogs of today's "heirloom" tomatoes.
My very favorite painting of the entire adventure was Old Woman Cutting Bread by Gerrit Dou. First off, the image on that link is so sadly reproduced that I hesitate to present it. The light is of a wonderful fiery nature and quite subtle off the rafters above. Lovely reds and oranges...
This has been a fascinating day, one that I think is going to stick with me for some time. I'm of swirling reflection with color and light, and oils...
And here's a bit of a start on the third and final set of character exercises. As I near completion of the alphabet, the exercises are calling for words and sentences. Visual balance and alignment are the considerations once the mechanics are in order.
Happy Vernal Equinox!
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