Sunday, February 15, 2015

Primarily Apples

 "Apple Trio"
8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

Here's a painting I did using only the primary colors (Cadmium red, Cadmium yellow, and Ultramarine blue), plus white. A great way to capture truly brilliant bright reds is to lighten them by adding yellow instead of white. Titanium white has a blue cast, which ever-so-slightly cools and dulls orangey Cad red. A dash of yellow lightens it, keeps it saturated, and gives it a warm kick that helps it advance towards the eye.

Here are the three stages of my painting. First, I tone the canvas with a dull orange I mix from all three colors, laying in my drawing and pulling out some highlights. Second, I firm up my drawing with a darker shade, indicating my darkest darks and noting the overall value scheme. And third: add color!

Step two-and-a-half - not shown here - is paint mixing. With a palette knife. A lot of it. :)


3 comments:

Carol Josefiak said...

Great blog! I enjoyed reading it.

Unknown said...

Beautifully done! I love the playful composition choice with the top apple facing the viewer. Thanks for sharing your three stages, it's very helpful and perhaps next time you'll give us photos of the paint mixing stage. :)

Sue Marrazzo Fine Art said...

What a cool POST! i love seeing the thought behind a painting!