'Teapot with Shallots' - by Bobbi Dunlop

'Teapot with Shallots' - Detail

Oil on linen, 11x20

This is the first painting completed on my beautiful Utrecht linen which I primed from the raw state and demonstrated in my blog, Dunlop Demonstrations If you click on the images above, this will enlarge it and you might catch a glimpse of the beautiful canvas, peeking through the paint. Preparing my own canvas from scratch and stretching it onto stretcher bars is rather time consuming and most artists don't feel they have the time to do this, nor do they want to. Personally, it is a joy for me and I derive such pleasure from applying brushstrokes of paint onto a canvas knowing that every mark on it is from my own hand. There's just nothing like it, to my mind, and it is well worth the time and love that goes into it. In addition, I feel that I am experiencing a practice that was not optional for the great Old Masters, such as Rembrandt, who personally ground and made his own paints. This painting isn't varnished yet and I will rephotograph it once it is. Varnishing always brings life back into the paint and the painting.

Please visit my new website Bobbi Dunlop Fine Art and sign up for my newsletter!