Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Seeing colour

 Sunspot 24" x 48" SOLD

I have number 3 boat painting on the easel and its progressing nicely.  There is freedom in creating paintings using a palette knife and at a larger scale.  It eliminates or at least lessens the ability to drift into too much detail.  That leads to more expression and where my 'different' colours come from when painting boats and water.

Boat # 3

I get asked how I see the colours that I use in painting a subject.  It's developed from years of acute observation, seeing subtle differences in light and environmental colour reflections on a subject, combined with a knowledge of how values work, no matter what the colour.   I could create a monotone piece like "Dream Boat" below and it works because the values are correct.  We know in reality that this colourway would never happen, but it can be pulled off visually because the light and shadow work.
Dream Boat

It's a similar thought/visual process that I use when adding additional colour to my boat and water paintings such as in "Sunspot" or "Boat # 3", currently on the easel.  The colours may not be reality based, but they are value based.  They add visual interest but don't detract or lose the viewer's ability to identify the subject and have it  read as correct.