Sunday, February 10, 2008

More swatches today, but blues--I have so many, can't resist them.

Then I thought I'd do an all-blue still life with this great blue-striped sheet I have, but I abandoned it: for one, the stripes are too strong (and carelessly done; I've learned from painting architecture that if you're going to do details like that, you need to do them carefully, and not overdo them), but mostly, I think this is a good illustration of how using all one color doesn't work! Even if you want an all-blue picture, you still have to get some yellow and red in there. I'm sure there's some color theory or physiological reason for this, neither of which I know: maybe all one unremitting cvolor exhausts, or bores, the eye! I just know that over the years painting teachers always suggest adding other colors.


So, being unhappy with the direction of the blue still life, I turned and looked out the window and started just trying to paint what I saw. It was more fun to begin this, with no expectations and no idea of it being anything, than to try to do the "exercise" above.
Not to claim too much for it, partly because I have to stop here for today, but I think I see some influence of my Cezanne copies of last week ...




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7 comments:

Suzanne McDermott said...

Ok. Here are two book suggestions. One is Making Color Sing by Jeannie Dobie. Buy that one. It's GREAT and is all about waterCOLOR. Doudy, if you're reading this - that's the book for you, too. The other one is Blue and Yellow Don't Make Green. That book gets into much more technical detail, is interesting and the author is extremely opinionated but if you want to really spend time learning and thinking about color, that book is a great tool.

Some of those blues you show have yellow in them and some have red. That Jeannie Dobie book has a good layout with swatches and mixing that's very clear and concise (and nice to look at, too).

That's my two cents.

Nader Shenouda said...

Laura, the tree is wonderful...I would say cezanne influence is only 1% :) I love it.

Thanx for your tips on your palette...WOW 40 :) I have a 10 color palette, But it suits me well until now :)

Suzanne McDermott said...

PS I love your new profile image!

laura said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
laura said...

Thanks, Suzanne. I have the Dobie, which is lovely--I especially like her greens! and the idea of mouse colors--but I haven're really made a tudy of it or absorbed her lessons.
Doudy--So much can be done with ... When I start, as I have been doing, getting out all these tubes of paint I think I get overwhelmed and, trying to do/add too much, lose my focus! Concentrating on learning the properties and mixing qualities of a handful of colors would no doubt be much more helpful! Maybe I'll just retreat to my old, fa,iliar palette for a while!

Mineke Reinders said...

I love the tree sketch! Yes, I do think I see a bit of the Cezanne influence. Love seeing your swatches, too. Makes me want to order more colors...

sarahelizabeth said...

Nice work!