Warm & Cool Colors: Friday Debrief

I worked mostly on one new painting this week. This painting of crepe myrtles measures 36 x 48 inches (the size of most the paintings I’ve been doing lately). It’s challenging to photograph. I know that I’ve got the warm/cool color harmonies marvelously balanced when I find that I cannot get all the colors to register accurately. So, it’s one for the collector and the in-person visitor. The predominant color is a rosy salmon color that’s very bright. The foreground is brilliant yellow. It has lots of blue highlights throughout, pale blue-violet clouds, and rich greens for the middle ground foliage.

I need to connect the far right crepe myrtle to the ground and maybe make a few subtle adjustments to this and that, here and there, and it will be complete.

I made some drawings this week too, but my pride and joy is this painting. It has lots of mark making in it.

I feel like Pere Bonnard has been hovering near by. If you like my painting, please share it with your friends. And thank you for reading and looking.

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the sheen

Acrylic paint has a pleasant sheen.  You can see the reflection of light on the surface in this detail from the lower half of the Long Blue River featured in the previous post.  The material, the paint surface itself, has its own beauty.

Long Blue River

Here’s the whole panel of which a detail was featured in the previous post.  It measures 24 x 12 inches.  I’ve been really pushing the paint, going for the texture.

I notice that I really like the color blue.

slurred lines

One more detail to round out the day, though the tease has past.  Here’s another detail of the crepe myrtles scene that’s in the works because mooshing the painting around is why we paint.

teasing a bit more

Here’s another peek … clearly a landscape in the works!  I am loving using acrylic paint in veiled layers.

the tease

So, I’m going to be a little dramatic.  Why not?  This is detail numero uno.  A little bit of warm color to start the day.

winter tree

Here’s the whole painting, measuring 30 x 24 inches, painted using acrylic paint.  The detail that featured in the previous post is to the left.  It’s in the works still … of course!

crepe myrtles in Neopastels

I read through the forms using a ball point pen in the previous post, and here I’ve rehearsed the forms in color using Caran d’Ache Neopastels (oil pastel).  The drawing measures 18 x 11 inches.  Didn’t color everything.  It’s just a dress rehearsal, still thinking out loud.

“Koi Silk” at the Art League

Got a chance to see the January exhibit at the Virginia Art League and to photograph my oil pastel Koi Silk in situ.  I love the framing which was done by Carriage House Framing.   The whole thing measures 41.5 x 29 inches.

Here’s another view for scale.

The exhibit in historic Old Town Alexandria goes through February 4.

Here’s a link for Carriage House Framing.

http://carriage-house-picture-framing.business.site/

 

tropical flowers

I distract myself from winter by all the non-winter things that I can imagine — flowers, warm summer landscapes, bright colors!  I particularly the riot-chaotic feeling of masses of flowers.