Ready When You Are, 12x9, oil on linen panel |
The wall was raw wood. I had set myself the task to use as little white as I could possibly get away with. This was a bigger challenge than I thought and definitely took a concerted effort on my part. For instance, to paint the wall I used burnt sienna and a little dab of two yellows (cadmium lemon and Cad yellow medium). Then I grabbed the white! NO! By not adding white to this mixture it meant that the red handles had to be dealt with in a different manner too. They could not read darker than the wall which is in the light. Adding white to red does not make a lighter red, it makes variations of pink. I added a tad of yellow to the red enough to keep the red (and not make orange) and a smidgen of Naples yellow which lightened the mixture but did not weaken the red. It made me realize just how much I rely on white for value shifts. I needed light colors for the other two handles and what is in the light on the metals so I did use white. Keeping white to a minimum makes for a much brighter painting to be sure.
A friend of mine had said my paintings tend to be "chalky" so I took it to heart and am doing my best to address this. That was why I am working on this as my summer project. She is right. I recently added Zinc White to my palette as it is semi-transparent while my normal white, Titanium is opaque. I may try Flake white too. It has lead in it but is also semi-transparent. It helps lighten without deadening the color it is added to. It is my summer project for myself. I rediscovered an artist that I am using for my mentor in this endeavor. Aldro Hibbard. His colors are so vibrant.
It was a fun day. I do like painting outdoors. It was lovely to see some old friends and to meet new ones. It is always a treat to see what others do when you are out with a group of painters.
2 comments:
I love the vibrant colors, too, and that vibrancy is reflected in your mix of rigidity and fluidity, parallel and interrupting lines. This is fun. It would be a great one to sell for a home store or nursery website. LNB
Thanks Linda. I always appreciate your thoughtful observations on my work.
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