Bully On The Playground And Other Thoughts About Color

Where did the last 1 1/2 weeks go?  It doesn't seem as though that much time has past since my last post.  Last weekend was devoted to the MONDO juggling & unicycle festival.  I've also been taking some time to watch the Olympics in the evening, but still the last 1 1/2 weeks flew by.

Since my last post, I finished up the deer painting.  This is the second painting from the same picture.  The last time was almost a year ago.

#184 - Deer In Woods - 5" x 7" - paper - alternative palette

I also fussed with a painting a pansy in a pot.  I am a bit sentimental about this picture, since I grew the flower from seed. I've painted from this picture before.  The most recent time was three months ago.  The time before that was more than a year ago. 

#185 - Pansy In Pot - 6" x 6" hardboard - std palette

Fussed is the accurate word for this one, especially with the flower.  I struggle whenever I want a "purer" yellow or orange that is saturated. So I paint and I paint over and I paint over and I don't like the end result. When I'm doing the tawny oranges of the orange cats, I've got blue mixed in to help give the color strength.

This time, I sat back and realized I used my standard palette.  My standard palette consists of primary yellow, titanium white, quinacridone magenta, pthalo blue green shade, and pthalo blue red shade.  My alternative palette replaces the yellow with hansa yellow opaque and the red shade of blue with ultramarine blue.  While I've been painting with both palettes and noticing the differences, I haven't really thought about it in a focused way.

Meet my two different yellow colors.

The difference in strength is apparent.  The top row is "pure" color not toned down with white at all.  The hansa yellow opaque was a little dry on my palette, so it went on heavier than usual.  I compensated by doing two layers of paint for the primary yellow and the primary yellow still could not keep up.  While I am willing to concede that part of my problem is skill and experience, I am a little tired of fighting with my yellow paint.  On the back of the paint tubes, the difference in these two yellows is in the opacity and tinting strength and hansa yellow opaque is stronger in both categories.  

I also decided to compare my blue paint.  

I have enjoyed using the ultramarine blue.  It's easier for me to use and I figured out why.  Pthalo blue red shade is the playground bully on my palette.  It's the middle color. In the top row, it's pretty darn close to being the same value as the black gesso.  While the other two blues are dark, they aren't quite as dark and enveloping as pthalo blue red shade.

Since I've only recently figured out that I need to use a lot more white paint with all of my paint colors, it's no wonder that I let pthalo blue red shade dominate. This should be an easy bully to tame.  

In comparing the blue paint side by side, I noticed something else.  I like how the two pthalos related to each other.  They compliment each other in a pleasing way.  I don't find that when I look at ultramarine blue and pthalo blue green shade.  I'm not sure it makes that much difference in color harmony when using a limited color palette, but for now it's a reason to stick with pthalo blue red shade. 

Once I'm done with the primary yellow on my main palette, the refill is going to be with hansa yellow opaque.  I think I'll keep my alternative palette going and it will have primary yellow and ultramarine blue. 

This morning, I started a new pansy painting with my alternative palette, so I could see if the flower colors improved.  I think they did, although I still needed more than one layer of color. I'm still a long way from painting a flower with lyrical paint strokes, but trying is easier with the stronger yellow. 

Negative Space Deer

I started painting the background for this painting of a deer in the woods. Not very long into it, it seemed like painting the negative spaces would be a good idea. Plus, it gave me the opportunity to be super fussy with little paint strokes and mixing up way too many variations of color!

I am going to let this sit for a few days before I tackle the deer. I think I would like to finish it with  long paint strokes that only suggest the deer.

Getting Closer

The face shape is not quite right, but this is a much better rendition of Ella than the last time. I also have independent confirmation of this, since my hubby wants this one to bring to his office. (Smile).

#183 - Ella - 8" x 8" - hardboard - alternative palette

Also, here is last night's drawing. This has a lot of tricky shapes and angles. While my drawing is wonky, I would not have been able to tackle something like this 6 months ago.

Drawing And Watercolor

If I don't document, I can't go back and compare where I was at various stages in the journey!

Currently, drawing has been less of a focus, although I still drawing everyday. Most times, it's right before bed and I'm just drawing something in the house which caught my eye. Most nights (unless I am really tired!), I pick something which allow me to work on capturing the relationship of multiple things to each other or the parts of a complicated thing to itself. Truthfully, I'm not doing much measuring or checking of angles and most of the time, I don't finish the drawing. Ever so slowly, I see improvement in my eyes and hand working together better.

On the watercolor front, I am being stretched. The class is really, really good. I am learning tons, but  I can't really do any of it, yet. Here is what I did for the most recent exercises. We were doing small, simple value studies. The top two pages were from pictures the instructor provided. The bottom one was from a picture I took of Split Rock Lighthouse. 

It is going to sound silly, but the idea of the idea of doing an entire scene in these exercises (even in a simplified form) filled me with angst. However once I was done, it unlocked something in my brain which caused me to be in the right frame of mind to see things differently on my ride to work early this week.   

Peony

I really wish that I hadn't tried to add the portion of the second flower at the bottom of the photo. That was an unfortunate choice.

#182 - Garden Peony - #182 - 5" x 7" - paper - alternative palette

I have a long history with this particular plant. It self-seeded in the yard and I had to wait 3 growing seasons to see what color the flowers would be.

This Morning's Drive

My drive to work this morning was glorious. I took River Road to get to my client in the North Loop. There was snow on the ground. The sun was shining. The sky was blue. Visually, I was just trying to take it all in. I was hyper-aware of the beautiful scenery and wished I had time to try and do a couple of sketches. I kept thinking things like "is that snow a warmer color or a cooler color". I noticed a biker (bicycle, not motorcycle) bundled up in the way you would expect when it's 15 degrees outside, but this person made an impression because of the beautiful scarf that caught my eye. I wish I could have taken a picture to try and sketch from later. Some day, I would like to have the skill to try and sketch something like this in the moment.

It made a regular drive to work a much more enjoyable experience.

Tee Hee

It's Chandler my, high-strung and sweet, over the top, cat.

#181 - Chandler - 8" x 8" - on hardboard - standard palette

If only the whiskers were better! There are a lot of colors and a lot of paint strokes in this one, but they were all more deliberate. As a result, I don't think it looks as overworked as the one of Ella. I am pleased with the color of the background. Since the colors in the cat were more muted, I just went for pure Pthalo Blue (RS), plus white for the background. While the color is dark, it's not muted. So many choices! So much to learn!

That led me to take another look at my painting of Ella. Her eyes were too light in value and the background was too dark and muted, so I went back and adjusted them. This doesn't elevate it into the same class as the one of Chandler, but it did help. 

I'm glad to be doing some paintings on hardboard, so I can hang them. 

Start And Finish

This one had a strong start, but got lost in the middle and got to a place I did not like. I re-gessoed in the area of the nose, eyes, and forehead and had a second go at these parts. Mostly, I think I was fighting with my expectations. The fact that I wanted to do a good painting of Ella kept getting in the way.

The end result is okay.  It clearly is Ella and I will hang it on my wall.

#179 - Ella - 8" x 8" hardboard - standard palette

I would like to play with bigger, bolder strokes and not filling every crevice.  Maybe, next time!