Lobster with Drinking Horn

Willem Kalf’s "Still Life with Lobster, Drinking Horn and Glasses" (c. 1653) is one of my favorite still lifes. It is huge. I figure this will take me about a year to finish. My goal on this page is to write down all the painting steps. I generally keep a running task list, and I am copying the task list here when a step is complete.

Step 1. Canvas.

I purchased an archival-quality birch wood panel that is 30 x 40 inches.
The original painting is 34.0 in × 40.2 in.
I cut off the bottom 4 inches of the original drawing.
I started this on 01JUN2026.

Step 2. Gesso: The panel (or canvas) must be gessod first.

- 1st layer of white gesso
- Wait until dry; 2nd layer of white gesso
- Wait until dry; 3rd layer of white gesso mixed with Liquitex burnt sienna
- Sand with very fine sandpaper and wipe off dust as needed between coats

Step 3. Drawing

- I cheat and trace the drawing. I can draw the image by hand. However, hand-drawing the image adds weeks to the process.
- Use an online tool to convert a high-resolution image to a line drawing. Print the line drawing.
- Cut pages with a metal straight edge and an X-acto knife
- Tape the pages together
- Cover back where lines are with a number 2 pencil
- Align and tape to canvas
- Trace the drawing and check each section, ensuring that the tracing is transferred to the canvas

Step 4. Matte Medium

- I put 3 coats of matte medium over the gesso to allow light to penetrate and reflect back. I paint in different directions to ensure the panel is completely covered.
- Wait for each layer to dry before painting the next layer. I usually wait an hour or more.
- Paint the 1st layer vertically
- 2nd layer Paint horizontally
- 3rd layer mixed with a touch of burnt sienna so it is transparent. Paint diagonally

Step 5. Paint edges black

- Mix neutral black: use Liquitex colors: burnt umber, ultramarine blue, Dioxazine purple. Liquitex colors are more opaque than Golden Open acrylics.
- Use blue painter's tape to mask the front face of the panel
- 1st coat neutral black
- 2nd coat neutral black
- Take off the blue tape
- 3rd coat matte medium
- Wait until dry; Use blue painter's tape to mask edges. The painter's tape will stay on until the painting is finished,

Step 6. Paint edges neutral black

- Mix neutral black: use liquitex colors because they are more opaque and dry faster then Golden Open: burnt umber, ultramarine blue, Dioxazine purple
- use blue painters tape to mask front of canvas
- 1st coat neutral black
- 2nd coat neutral black
- 3rd coat matte medium
- Wait until completely dry; Use blue painters tape to mask edges; wrap around back of panel. keep tape on until painting is finished

Step 7. Easel

Normally, I paint on a table. This painting is too large to fit on a table. So, I bought an easel.

- Buy - The easel needs to be adjustable up and down. I want to sit and paint or stand and paint. Also, rotating the painting is important. Some edges are easier to get right when the painting is rotated. Sometimes I paint with my left hand rather than rotate; it is quicker.
- Setup
- Mount panel - The photo shows a sitting level that is comfortable for painting the top of the horn.
- Check height

Step 8. Underpainting

- Make photo enhancements to reveal details that are not present in the original photo. For example, the box was not visible in the original, nor was the wall.
  - Duplicate the original photo
    - Enhance shadows in one
    - Enhance highlights in another
    - Get a black-and-white version of one of the above, which will be used as the basis of the underpainting
- Estimate the hours spent on the underpainting. Don't exceed the estimate.
  - The goal is to get the shadows and highlights approximately right, and to spend a limited amount of time on details
  - My original estimate was 2 weeks and 14 hours
  - I revised the estimate as I went. The last estimate was 24 hours. Because of various personal interruptions, it took about 6 weeks to complete 14 hours.
  - Revise limit based on # of detail areas completed and the number left
  - I was spending too many hours and too much calendar time on the underpainting. So, I stopped at 14 hours (see photo).
- Mix Payne’s gray and store in tube
  - 1x Ultramarine Blue
  - 1x Neutral Black
  - 1/8x Burnt Umber
  - Test by mixing with white; should be a dark, rich blue gray
- Underpainting: use white and raw Sienna to lighten and darken: no details. Also use neutral black for darkest areas
  - A. Use acrylic markers for fine highlights
  - B. Use acrylic markers for shadow outlines
  - C. Use acrylic paints for larger areas
  - Repeat A-C until satisfied with “sketch”.
  - Check various photos for missing details. The line drawing is incomplete and lacks detail
  - Revise or fill in the underpainting sketch
    - Use N tones: #N+2 neutral black is darkest, #N+1 burnt sienna pen #3-N burnt sienna and matte medium (wash) using one or more layers, #2 gesso and wash, #1 beige pen is lightest; no white.
      - I used 7 gradients of raw umber andd white and 7 of gray.
    - Rough-in shadows and highlights, then add more detail
      - Work back to front.
- Mix neutral black: use liquitex colors because they are more opaque and dry faster then Golden Open: burnt umber, ultramarine blue, Dioxazine purple

Step 9. Matte Layer

- Acrylics can look flat or chalky. Doing the underpainting helps to mitigate this look. Also, adding matte layers over the whole painting periodically gives it a glow more like oils. Golden Open paints go over Liquiteex matte medium better than a gloss medium.

Google Sites

Report abuse