Art with Cynthia

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Pick a personal color palette

We've been experimenting this year with abstraction from nature, and the color palettes of the seasons, but you can also create your own personal color palette or color scheme that mirrors your personality. Does a limited color palette suit you, or a riot of color? Bright colors or muted? Cools or warms? What is your favorite color or combination of colors? Do you prefer harmonious (analogous) colors or contrasting (complementary) colors? Which of the seasonal palettes did you prefer? By choosing the colors you like when you paint you will paint in a more personal manner and express yourself more clearly. You might get a hint from your wardrobe, or your house decor, or the tubes of paint in your drawer. Take a look at the article "How to Create a Color Palette for Your Art Practices" Here’s a simple process any artist, professional or aspiring, can use to create color palettes. Step 1: Go Exploring: First, simply find a few images that you like. You don’t h...

Fall Color palette

I 'm continuing through the book "Contemporary Landscapes in Mixed Media", by Soraya French, and the chapter on color through the seasons. She says "Each season conjures up specific colors in our mind's eye." And I'm moving quickly on to the fall palette. "This season presents us with the most seductive of all the color palettes and proof that mother nature is the greatest colorist of all." The colors you see above are: 1 = Indian yellow, Nickel Azo yellow, Quinacridone burnt orange, Terra Rosa, Pyrole orange 2 = Cadmium yellow light, Hans, Cadmium yellow medium, Burnt Siena, Cad. red + Cad. yellow 3 = Burnt umber, Dioxazine purple, DP + Cad. yellow, Gold ochre 4 = Cobalt blue, Ultramarine blue + Cad. yellow, + white, Dioxazine purple + Burnt Siena, Quinacridone magenta Autumn Woods by Soraya French Late Summer Garden- in process. I'm using colors from both the summer and the Fall palette.

Summer Color Palette

I 'm continuing through the book "Contemporary Landscapes in Mixed Media", by Soraya French, and the chapter on color through the seasons. She says "Each season conjures up specific colors in our mind's eye." This week I've been working with her summer palette, and wanted to share what I've learned. "With so many brilliant colors to choose from in the summer months it is important to harness your excitement in choosing your color scheme... Don't forget to include darks and neutrals to make the more brilliant colors shine" The colors you see above are: 1 = Prussian blue (you can make this with cobalt + scarlet red), Prussian blue + Hansa yellow 2 = Ultramarine + Cadmium yellow medium, + white on the last 2 3 = Quinaccidone magenta, QM + ultramarine, Phthalo blue + white, QM + Phthalo green, + Phthalo blue 4 = Quinaccidone magenta + white, Cadmium red, + Cadmium yellow, Cadmium yellow, QM + Phthalo green Sunflower Fields, Provence - by t...

Gardens

Last week we experimented with outdoor "plein-air" painting, and I think we all experienced how hard it is! Today I looked back at my first entry of the year, called "Abstract Landscapes", and this quote from Ideelart.com : "In the Mid-1800s, landscape artists began utilizing a style of painting called “plein-air,” or open-air painting. Plein-air brought painters away from their studios to paint outside. This instantly made landscape painting the most sensual way a painter could work. ... Plein-air painting offered a world of sensual delights, such as the flickering of light off water, the changing colors of the sky, the miraculous multitude of colors lines and forms in nature." My favorite way to work is back and forth between outdoors and studio. I often start a painting outdoors, take lots of photos, and finish it in the studio. Here are a few of my favorite expressionist or abstract garden paintings: Southern Garden, Paul Klee: Walk in the Garden, Ann...

Painting outdoors

When the weather is perfect - not too hot, not too cold, and dry - I enjoy taking my canvas outside to paint in my garden. But it's not a simple or easy proposition, even with perfect weather. Here are a few things to consider: 1. Comfort: Figure out a set up with chair, easel, and paints that is comfortable. Uncontrollable factors include heat, wind, water, bugs, and passers-by. If you need to carry your equipment in to a site, keep it as simple as possible. 2. Lighting: The sun is your lighting, and the subject and all the value relationships change rapidly with the angle of the light and the reflections or cover of clouds. The three issues with light are the angle of lighting across the landscape, the color of light on the landscape and page, and the intensity of light in your eyes; y ou will need to paint during the same hour every day in order to have somewhat consistent light, and wear a hat to prevent glare. 3...

Vibrant Loose Brushwork

I've been looking for videos to post of the kind of loose brushwork we've been talking about and this one from Peter Wood Arts is fun. He starts with a dark blue underpainting. Another way to describe it is "Optical Mixing" rather than mixing on the palette. That was invented by he Impressionist painters like Claude Monet. Optical mixing eliminates perfect coverage and smoothly-blended transitions. Claude Monet, Impression, sunrise 1872 Jackson's Art Blog describes it: "The Impressionist painters used layers of colours, leaving gaps in the top layers to reveal the colours underneath. The technique is achieved through hatching, cross-hatching, stippling, drybrushing, and sgraffito (scratching into the paint). Mixing of brighter colours is done directly on the canvas to aid in creating the broken colour effect and only darker colours are mixed on the palette." Next week: Bring an old canvas board to play on. We will paint abstract water together, just ...