Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Warm vs. Cool Palette


















My still life 'Pears and Peach' is for me another labor of love.  As simple as it looks, the painting took probably about thirty plus hours to bring it to this point.  And for me the joy in creating the painting comes from the fact that it was painted in layers of glazes.  I used Liquin as the medium so each layer dried in less than twenty-four hours so the painting was ready for a new next layer the next day instead of weeks.

I also experimented with color.  Usually my palette is warm (as in the previous post), but I realized that I had gotten into a rut so I tried using a cooler palette.  Here my underpainting is created with raw umber and terre verte.  I also lightened my background to a medium (5) value moving away from my usual near black backgrounds.  I really like the feel and mood of the painting since the values are closer together and much lighter.  What was really fun for me was using a semi opaque white in a soupy, milky consistency to scumble over the white fabric.  The photo doesn't do it justice but the white glows with light.

I know that many painters avoid the layering technique because of the time it takes, and I understand that reasoning. But, (there is always a "but") it is nearly impossible to get the "look" and "depth" of layered glazes without using this technique.  As always, your comments are welcome.

1 comment:

  1. Hello

    I really like your painting; I just want to something like this; I am just starting painting and I use layering technique. Very nice.

    ReplyDelete

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