Color as a Visual Approach in blue

Along the Adriatic, 24x24 oil on board

As I wrote last week, this project is Color as a Visual Approach. I chose an easy one to do in blues, since most of it already tended toward blue if it wasn't outright, like the sky and the sea. The only thing I really had to work at was the sand and the woman's face in the sunlight. It is reading as sand, but that sand actually has a lot of blue in it, making it a greenish color. See patch below and how green it looks on its own. BUT next to all the other blues, it still reads as sandy colored. Her face is basically the same pasty green but it reads as if it is in the light. This has been a good exercise for me. Even though the sand in the shadow has a lot of oranges and greens, the over color is blue if you squint down. That is the key. To use your whole palette and still keep the over color bluish.

Kevin critiqued this at the end of Monday's class. He likes it but said two things need to be done. The tire tracks on the right hand side are too soft and need a bit more graphic quality to them to match the overall graphic feel of the piece and to tie the shapes in the sand to the bicycle.