Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Wrestling Match continued...

As I had mentioned my "Soft Place to Land" is getting a real workout.  But after several days of just staring at it, thinking the solution would come to me, I decided to get busy and really find out what went wrong.
It seems that the dominant color palette of Burnt Umber which I mixed for this painting, is probably not well suited to a snow scene.  I figured it would go more to the purple side, but it didn't.  Oops!
Anyway, here are a few things I did today to see more clearly how Burnt Umber behaves.  I use a lot of Burnt Umber in my paintings so thought I already knew.  This just goes to show, not all of us are as smart as we think we are   : )!

Anyway,
Heres the palette.  Pretty huh?

Today I made a chart out of it, you know like the ones I've been harping on everyone about?
It went much redder than I thought it would.

So I did this little painting to see what it might look like if I pushed it to the lighter side.
Ooo!  Very pink!

So, whats the lesson?
#1 - I should never assume that I know what I'm doing...  : )
#2 - I need to go back and finish one chart for each of my colors, (I have about 3/4 of them done) so I can choose one when I have my heart set on a certain mood to come through in a painting.
This palette I think, would be better suited for a late evening or early morning snow scene.  You know, when you have those lovely pink hues falling across the snow.  Also, I thought it might work really well for an interior like one of Rembrandt's, with figures or a portrait.

...now what did I do with that olive branch painting?