Late Summer Palette

I'm still fascinated by the use of a

black background.  Here is a 10 x 10 canvas

that captures the colors of autumn

with the last of the summer

fruits.

I began this painting with basic acrylic colors and a chalk outline on a black canvas.

The drawing is always important but especially so when working with flat color blocks to start.  I want to get the correct color on the canvas and not worry about blending them together.  It is sometimes called puzzle painting: placing the correct piece next to another one eventually makes it a whole.

I can get lost for hours picking out the color swatches from the reference material.  I am so relaxed at this stage as I know that pulling it all together will happen later.  Remember the palette I began with?

It has gotten very messy and unorganized...just the way I like it when I am trying to capture chunks of color throughout the composition.  I still have some chalk lines above but am about to wipe them off with a cloth.

Here is the finished (maybe?) piece.  After the chalk lines disappeared I began to work with the oils and started the process of glaze over glaze over glaze.  Using color with a "liquin additive" provides a  transparent way of tying all the colors together.  I was attempting to get that waxy, luminescent look that fresh vegetables, err, summer fruits have.  That transparency also makes it harder to photograph true color with my limited equipment....this is much more vibrant than it appears here.

Autumn is dropping huge hints of its arrival.  Cool nights and spots of color....nature's own wonderful late summer palette: Enjoy!

Color Fully Yours,
Cindy

Foraging a Garden

I take comfort in the numerous different styles

of Picasso, that he constantly found a new way to paint.

And I love that he said : 

Art is the elimination of the unnecessary.

I'm not a Picasso.  But if he can change his style and paint as the muse moves then why can't the rest of us?  I confess that I get restless painting in the same genre over and over again and often choose to play with a piece before I tackle it realistically.  Sometimes I like the "play" better than the "intentional." 

I have a supply of 12 x 16 black supports designated for "experiments." Color just seems to pop off the page when placed on black so I am having fun doing some simple pieces as I get familiar with my subject matter.  I can't wait to paint this foraging basket on an old chair in a more realistic manner but first I wanted to play as a way to get familiar with the lines and shapes of my subject.

chalk sketch of chair and basket

While this will result in a very simplistic painting, it actually involves a lot of pre-thinking.  To keep it simple I need to slow down and think about each color.  Using pre-mixed acrylics means I need to eliminate the unnecessary even before I touch a brush to the canvas.

step 2, the centerpiece

I start with the main focal point and eliminate everything else.  Where the chalk lines are will be a black outline, something I am trying hard to maintain.  There is no blending or shading of color; each segment is one color, forcing me to think about the shape of that color (something very useful in other applications).

  

Garden Forage, 16 x 12, acrylic

available

Here it is.  Part of the challenge with a colored support is to utilize that color in the composition.  Just like I did with the Angel Tree I wanted the black to play a major role in the subject matter.  I think it is very clear what we are looking at, no?

This is a great exercise.  It forces me to slow down and take the composition apart piece by piece and color-shape by color-shape.  It is almost meditative in its execution and a wonderful way to become very familiar with the subject at hand.  With an inexpensive support and fairly cheap paint I can play to my hearts content while learning more of the lessons that will show up in more complicated pieces.

Happily foraging,

Cindy