Thursday, August 7, 2014

3 starts

Getting nowhere fast with my large piece that I worked on most of the day yesterday; ...need to let it dry and change my focus for a while.
3 urban-scape starts  - works in progress
I have always enjoyed painting urban-scapes and Kingston is a great town with lots of character in it's architecture, and since I live nearby it's easy to get resource material for these paintings. This morning I came across some photos I took ages ago from two different hotels where I got perspectives from the upper floors looking down on the rooftops, and so I'm using them as jumping off points.  3 canvases all with different coloured grounds. Hopefully will give me different moods even if  I do happen to use the same colour palette for them all...which I probably wont!   I think I'll paint them in different seasons.  For me one of the most fun things about working with colour is discovering the many possibilities, learning how it can change relative to what colour is beside it etc.   I get bored always using the same colours, so it's fun trying new combinations. It's the learning that keeps me interested. 
Of course It's exciting when something 'sings' that I hadn't expected, but equally exasperating when I choose a palette that doesn't fit the mood I want!  (like I said ...it's all a bit of an experiment)
That is what  happened with the larger work in progress that I worked on yesterday, and it's why I have chosen to leave it to dry before I  can work into it again.  I had wanted morning light in the painting, but had chosen Indian yellow as my main yellow...I have learned now that Indian yellow just is never going to give me a colour that equates to morning light, no matter what I mix it with!  sheesh!  It reads as evening or late afternoon whenever I use it, and consequently the mood of the piece that I'm working on isn't working.  I couldn't see that yesterday, but I knew it this morning when I went back into the studio.  Funny how that happens!   It's like being blind or something while working on it.  At least it feels good recognizing what the problem is now...which hopefully gives me the opportunity to pull it together. 

4 comments:

  1. Well I am impressed. Beautiful starts on all of them.

    XOXOXOXOXOXO Barbara

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  2. Love seeing and reading about your process. Looking forward to see the finished pieces.

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  3. Hi Barbara, thanks. Hope you are on your way to NS right about now;)

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  4. Glad you enjoy reading about the process Sarah. Writing about the process helps me to cement the concepts and the reasons I do what I do in my own mind

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