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Happy New Year!
We had a great Christmas holiday... Other than the Michigan State Spartan football game. sigh.
Did you make any resolutions? A couple of years ago, I read on Christine Kane's blog to choose a word as your theme for the year rather than making traditional resolutions... 
I haven't come up with my word for 2011 yet... maybe it's "procrastination" LOL
I just can't seem to narrow it down. hmmmmm...
..to be continued...
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Hot Off the Easel!
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 | Junco
8x8
Acrylic on canvas
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One of the things that I'm feeling the need to work with in 2011 is neutrals.... by the way....I call RED a neutral.
Subtlety has never been my strong suit, so I'm going to try and quiet myself a bit.... We'll see how that goes. (I see you snickering) I love a challenge!
In what ways are you going to push yourself this year?
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Idea Spark-lers
| | Are you in need of some ideas to jump start your painting? Well, you've come to the right place....
Paint with 2 colors, plus black and white....
You'll be amazed at the variety of color you can get from a severely limited palette.
"Junco" (above) was painted with Pyrrol Red (Daniel Smith), Yellow Ochre (golden fluid acrylic) and black and white gesso*.
I had pre-painted the canvas with a variety of reds... but it was mostly Pyrrol. (After a painting session, if I have any left over paint on the palette, I use it to pre-paint my canvas. I love painting on a colored surface, and I hate letting any paint go to waste)
I suggest using 2 primaries (red, blue or yellow) plus the black and white... you'll get more variety that way. I use black and white gesso* but feel free to use black and white paint.
Here are a couple of other color choices that work well...
1. french ultramarine blue & burnt sienna, black and white
2. quinacridone red & thalo green, black and white
With this exercise, you'll find that while color is really fun... it's the value of a color (how dark or light it is) that's most important to learn first. If your values are right in your painting...it won't matter what colors you are using... It will work!
Below is a painting I've started using just quinacridone red, yellow, black and white... I doubt that the palette I'm using will stay this limited, but it's a good way to work on the preliminary structure of a painting. It's all about the values!
*I dilute the gesso with a bit of water, and store it in those "Gladware" disposable containers. The gesso will have a dull finish when dry, but I varnish my paintings, so this doesn't bother me. Acrylic gesso is less expensive than acrylic paint...and because of that, I think I'm more free with slopping it on!
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Have a Great Week! |
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