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Thursday, 10 March 2011

Taking colour for a walk


I've been using one of the palettes from the ongoing still life project today. The main base colours of the painting are cadmium yellow deep and primary cyan.....yikes! Both are powerful colours and I used a lot of white, naples yellow and touches of burnt sienna, deep violet, cobalt blue and indanthrene blue to neutralise. (Usually my palette is a lot more limited - two or three colours + white)

It's not finished and might well just stay as an exercise rather than a finished piece but it's been good to step outside my colour comfort zone. The painting started as thin glazes in the sky and sea, then mid way through the waves and down to the sand I've scumbled all the colours together.

Once I'd gotten to this stage there was a lot of paint on my palette and not wanting to waste it I thought I'd take the colours on a walk. Below is a sketchbook page of our journey.



It makes me think of the Farrow and Ball paint chart and is a really good reminder exercise of how beautiful neutrals and greys are.

Just in case you missed it, there's a post over at Making a Mark all about Katherine Tyrrell's colour project with links to her squidoo colour page and lots of other resources. Be sure to bookmark it as it's a place you will definitely want to return to.
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2 comments:

  1. loriann signori11 March 2011 at 12:17

    Hi Lisa! Wow you are very organized when you go for a walk- very admirable. You have seen my color book- nowhere near the organization! Impressive!
    This painting has great possibilities.Can't wait to see how it progresses!

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  2. Lisa Le Quelenec12 March 2011 at 09:35

    Hi Loriann, I'm trying to get out of a colour rut by using the paint I was seduced by at the art shop but haven't really used. I've had cadmiums for a long time but their brightness and opacity scares me a bit. Primary cyan, beautiful on it's own but terrifying in a painting.
    Organised...just trying to give myself a map so I can find my way back. I'm not very good at directions but I can read a map.
    I'm so glad you are able to get out and about painting, such good news. Have a lovely weekend.

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