The eye loves complementary neutrals. The eye will accept the ‘truth’ of a well placed neutral faster than it will a piece of carefully crafted modeling. Nature abounds with complementary colors. I remember as a child being amazed by the green shadows cast by the light streaming though the red curtains of my bedroom. What…
Here is my usual weekly post about what’s cookin’. The top painting is ‘Deb.’ The lower painting isn’t very far advanced but I think you can get a sense of what’s afoot. It’s called ‘Antique Shop.’ To paint this large piece, I had to prop the easel’s cross-box on my knee to keep it from…
Someone asked if I inadvertently omitted straight-from-the-tube black from my palette. The omission wasn’t inadvertent. I don’t use ivory black (or any other black) ‘as is.’ Ivory black is too cold to use as is, but not cold enough for a truly cold black, which is why I create the mixtures illustrated in the linked post. Ivory black + ultramarine blue for cool black, and ivory black + burnt umber for a neutral black. For warmth, I add more burnt umber or, more typically, use burnt umber + cobalt (or cerulean) blue.
Here is my general. all-purpose palette. It has a good assortment of every color group and the core neutrals I always mix. You can do just fine with fewer colors–three or even fewer from each group is certainly workable. When I was younger, I had a very limited palette because I had a very limited…
As this photograph demonstrates, I need more studio space. Not shown are the larger–5′ x 6′– paintings that are precariously stacked on one another. My separate storage area is overflowing with even larger paintings, like Black Lake (72″ x 96″), and other large, primed canvases ready to be worked. We are planning to buy a property…
Sick of winter yet? Here is Lake Erie this morning: Pretty for January but not on St. Patrick’s day.
I worked on “The Call” these past two days. It’s getting there-it’s beginning to make my eyes happy when I look at it. The parts finished are the ground, pediment, water bottle, crumpled jacket, and left-hand tree. I might change the title to simply “Calling.” I oiled this workhorse easel on Saturday; the wheels were…
Artists usually doctor their oil paint to make them dry faster. By decreasing drying times, paintings can be reworked sooner and completed faster. Siccative agents, such as lead, also enhance the handling qualities of oil paint. There are times though when you need to slow drying times. When I am working on a large painting…