I wanted to try out one of my favorite mixes, Yellow Ochre and Ultramarine blue (from exercise 47) with an interpretation of a familiar spot on the lake. Just two pigments and only a #12 sable--I'd never before gone past a #6. About an hour and a half.
If you hadn't said there were only two pigments there I wouldn't have known without really thinking about it. Isn't a limited palette pleasing? -- like writing haiku, the constraint actually channels the creativity a little further. That's a clever use of the mix: plain ultramarine for the water, plain ochre for the shore, I think? and the rest in various blends. Absolutely love the colours you've mixed for rocks and scrub, and the shadow round the shoreline.
ReplyDeleteWhat a very good idea. Well worth repeating.
Indeed, this is worth more attempts. I scan into Photoshop and became quite enamored of a few crops. For instance, just the lower third (or the right half) made for an interesting piece. I decided to forgo any enhancement and let it be.
ReplyDeleteI read enormously on painting. Applying the brush humbles me and spurs me on to more effort. Some things work; others don't. I will learn! :-)
It's fun to poke through my book of color charts and pick out a palette for study. I am thinking of expanding a palette selection out to two charts with a common pigment--a three paint palette.
These two colors are so beautiful together and you have handled them with great sensitivity. I was going to tell you which part of the painting was my favorite but I kept looking back at it and couldn't make up my mind- the foreground blues have such depth and the reflected sky seems to float with energy. I particularly like the sandy edge just under the water's surface.
ReplyDeleteVery lovely!
~ gretchen
Thanks again, Gretchen! It was great fun dropping in that sand--it was nearly pure pigment and I loved the way it would move on the wet.
ReplyDelete