More Color Studies

25 of 30

I've done quite a few color studies recently (not all as detailed, neat, and with as many colors and values as the most recent one based on Sargent.)  This was the one I did before the Painted Desert piece.  

26 of 30

These colors are based on the warms in many of Sorolla's paintings.

27 of 30

These are based on a snow painting by Frank LaLumia (he used to live in Santa Fe, but now lives in southern Colorado.)

I'll be using all of these color charts in upcoming paintings.  Maybe it's stretching it to be using these in the 30 in 30 challenge.  But, as I've said, I decided to make the challenge fun and to work for me.  

Sargent's Grays - Next Step

Sargent's Grays - Next Step
22 of 30

After yesterday's color chart I spent more than one hour going through the pictures I took last May in Italy.  I didn't have to use Sargent's grays on an Italian building, but since that was what I was using as my subject it seemed like a good choice!  I could have spent several hours going through my photos!  I didn't find a building that had the whites and ochre-ish colors and the dark burgundies, But, I found one that had the whites and green.  So, that seemed like a good alternative.  The picture was of the whole side of a building.  I had to cut and crop and come up with a composition that works.

My next step was to sketch in the window and building, and paint some of the darks.  So, I guess this is about two hours.  Because I'm participating in the 30 in 30 challenge, although doing it so that it works for me, I've been showing the steps of my paintings.  That way I have something to post almost everyday for 30 days.

Figure Color Study

Figure Color Study
8" x 6"  Oil
$75.00 + $10. s/h

I did this color study the other day while visiting Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia.  I sat in on a class that my sister, Natalie Italiano, was teaching.  The color class teaches seeing the light hitting the figure (or form) and how that light changes the local color;  making strong color statements; and constantly comparing one color mass to surrounding color masses.  Some of the points about color:  color masses are painted in in relationship to the masses next to  them;  learn to see color by looking at color relationships;  in a color study start with the brightest, easiest to see color.

I've been painting this week in my sister's studio and will post some of the pictures soon.    

Monument Valley II

5" x 7" oil on gessoed masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
please contact me if interested

With this study I toned the bottom half of the panel with violet and the top half with yellow ochre.  Normally I tone the whole canvas in yellows/oranges.  But, wanted to see what the earth would look like with a different tone peeking through.  I like the result.

Monument Valley is on the border of Utah and Arizona on the Navajo Nation.  You can drive yourself around the front of the area, but we wanted to go back deep into the Navajo Tribal Park (30,000 acres), so took a 3 hour tour with a local Navajo.  This way we got to see the incredible geologic formations, monoliths, petroglyphs, and pictographs.  We also got an insight into their present day lifestyle and cultural history.

Monument Valley

5" x 7" oil on gessoed masonite

$100.00 + $10. s/h

please contact me if interested

On our trip through Utah in November we went to Monument Valley, which is famous for it's rock formations and the many movies filmed there.  I kept expecting John Wayne to ride up at any minute!  (John Ford filmed several westerns there.) I know people who are unfamiliar with the west, or who haven't been here,  put all the separate states in one big category "the west".  But, each state has it's own beauty, it's own geology, it's own colors.  The colors of Monument Valley, which is southern  Utah and northern Arizona are very different from the colors here in Colorado.

I started this series with small color studies to help me see the differences.  The winter colors there are very grayed and muted.  I've really found it inspiring to mix all these "new" color notes.  Traveling is a real opportunity to see so much.

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

6" x 6" oil on panel
nfs

This is my last rock piece for the time being. I'll come back to these again as they are such great color/value/edge studies.
Yesterday I was trying to come up with another "rock" title for my piece, so I Googled "songs with rock in the title". (I know, how do I have time for that in this busy season!) I couldn't believe how many sites came up. My favorite site was "Songs with rock in the title that don't rock!" And, Jingle Bell Rock was in that list!
Both our kids are due home today. It'll be great to have them here for awhile.
I want to wish all my blogging friends a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday. Thanks for all your support, comments, and friendship this past year.

Jingle Bell Rock

6" x 6" oil on panel
nfs

OK, I know this doesn't look like a jingle bell, but it has tints and shades of red and green. And, it is another Christmas song with the word rock in the title!

Frog Rock

6" x 6" oil on panel
nfs

I think that this rock looks a little bit like a frog. He seems ready to jump off the table. It is truly amazing the different values and colors of rocks. There are as many, if not more, than there are rocks. Then, there is temperature difference. I could repaint all of these changing the background cloth from warm to cool, and cool to warm. There are never endless exercises to be done and paintings to be painted.

Rock-in' Around the Clock

6" x 6" oil on panel
nfs

This was the only holiday song I could think of with "rock" in it.
I've been painting a lot of canyons, rock walls, rocky mountains and rocky cliffs lately. I paint what I see. I've also been thinking about value a lot. So, this led me to want to concentrate really closely on rocky values. Which led me to paint rock close-ups. All of these rocks are about fist or whole hand size. I've done four so far. They're together below. I'll post one each day. They've been fun to paint. Sort of a color study of rocks instead of boxes.

Palo Duro Canyon Study II

5" x 7" oil on gessoed masonite
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

This is the 2nd of 5 studies I did from photos after I returned from our plein air trip to Palo Duro Canyon State Park. As I stated yesterday, I used a limited palette while traveling. Those colors were: alizaron, cad red light, yellow ochre, cad yellow light, sap green, cobalt blue, ultramarine blue and white.

During the Weekend with the Masters Workshop, I attended a talk and slide show by Scott Burdick (whose travel paintings are incredible). He stated that when he flies he uses water based oils. We drove to Texas, so this wasn't an issue, but I'm wondering if anyone else uses water based oils. I've never tried them.

Palo Duro Canyon Study I

5" x 7" oil on gessoed masonite
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

The next group of Palo Duro Canyon pieces are little studies that I did from photos after I got home. While on the trip I used a very limited palette, a warm and cool red, yellow, blue, sap green, and white. My palette at home has more colors and for these studies I added terra rosa, cad orange, and dioxazine violet. I got all the colors I needed on the trip by mixing the primaries. But I like the feel from more color choice.

Canyon Color Study III

5" x 7" oil on panel
nfs

This color study is of the "Spanish Skirts" which appear in the bottom of Palo Duro Canyon. This dark red oxidation is a combination of iron and oxygen.

Canyon Color Study II

5" x 7" oil on gessoed masonite
nfs

This is another color study from Palo Duro Canyon. My understanding of color studies is to block in flat colors of the main shapes. It was difficult to keep myself from painting the tree areas textured. I really simplified the peaks, mesas, and cliffs. But the trees aren't flat areas. I'll work on that next time.

Blogger friend Celeste Bergin, (look at her blog if you're not familiar w/ her great paintings) commented that the last color study was "diebenkorn-esque". That's about the 4th time in the last month or so tht I've heard someone mention Richard Diebenkorn. At the Weekend w/ the Masters workshop, both Kevin Mcpherson and Skip Whitcomb talked about him. I guess I need to know more about him, so I've put his book on hold at the library. I'm more of a book than internet researcher. But, what I do know about him is that he painted a lot in the abstract expressionist movement of the 50s, he created a mood of quiet and isolation, and he worked in broad areas of color in open rectangular planes. I found that little bit from an old college book, "The History of Modern Art" by HH Arnason.

Canyon Color Study

6" x 8" oil on panel
nfs

I did several color studies of Palo Duro Canyon. This one was from near the top looking into and over a broad vista of the canyon. While the front rock outcropping looks a little like it's going up, the depth and flattening would have appeared w/ the details, I like the effect of the color flatness and simplicity. More to come.

Light and Shadow

6" x 8" oil on panel
nfs

It was very windy when I went out to paint this morning. We often have high winds in Colorado, and it can be even windier in Hartsel, up in the mountains. So, my choices were to stand in the wind or go down into the woods. As you can see, I chose the woods. I thought I'd do another shadow and light study (like I mentioned in the last post) painting this piece w/ more light than shadow. But, I was drawn to these two trees, and so ended up w/ more shadow than light. That's ok, one day I'll do a study with more light than shadow.

Shadow and Light

6" x 8" oil on panel
nfs

During the Weekend with the Masters workshop, one of Kevin Macpherson's class exercises was to create a small piece which had 3/4 shadow and 1/4 light. During one of Skip Whitcomb's talks and demos he said that you should not have equal detail in the light and shadow. He also said that painting in the field is a place for fun and experimentation. So, this past weekend painting in the mountains, I tried to put all of this together in one exercise. I worked for 3/4 shadow w/ more detail, and 1/4 light w/ less detail. I think I've got about 1/3 2/3s, but a fun experiment.

A great benefit of blogging and the web world is meeting new people. I have met so many people through my blog. Today I got to meet a blogger friend in person! I spent a good part of the day w/ Cathyann Burgess from Richmond, Va. She and her husband are spending a month in Denver, Colorado visiting their son and his family. She drove down to the Springs, we met at the Garden of the Gods, had a great tour (I'm a pretty good guide!), went to lunch and visited galleries. What a world we live in! Visit her blog if you're not familiar w/ her work!

Sunlight on Another Barn

6" x 8 " oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

I tried to use all the color study lessons from last week's workshop while painting these barns. The sunlight might have been a liitle warmer on the main roof, but since the roof is metal it still appears cool. I'll have to keep looking, and pondering that one.

Studio Incamminati Workshop Day 5 -- Last Day

This is our class from the Studio Incamminati workshop, Color Study: Still Life and Figure Painting for Art Educators, taught by Natalie Italiano. Teachers came from Utah, Colorado (me!) & Ohio, as well as locally NJ and Pa. There are lots of workshops offered here. It's a pretty amazing atelier with incredible facilities.

Again, we had a critique after the 2 days of figure studies.

Here I am w/ my studies from the last day...seems to be a little glare on the paintings.

It was a great week. Tomorrow I'm off to the Jersey shore. I'm looking forward to that, as we don't have beaches in Colorado.

Studio Incamminati Workshop Day 4

Today in the Studio Incamminati workshop, Color Study: Still Life and Figure Painting for Art Educators, taught by Natalie Italiano, we continued to learn to see color by looking at color relationships, but with a model. Here Natalie is starting the study with a grisaille drawing.

In this photo she's blocked in the first four color notes: the brightest, easiest to see notes.

Here's her color study almost completed.

These are the 4 color studies I completed today. Studio Incamminati has an extensive palette which is listed on their website under supplies. Many of these colors are not in my normal palette and it's really exciting to use them!

Barn Color Study

6" x 8" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
SOLD

This is another color study of the barns and sheds on the ranch with the aqua roofs. The sun created a glow on the side of the buildings and really accentuated the roof colors. Each of the ranch building roofs is a slightly different aqua hue, obviously due to the sheds all being built in different decades. But how wonderful that these ranchers loved color enough to think about the roof shingles.
We had a wonderful graduation weekend. Saturday was probably the only weekend day in 8 weekends that was beautiful and sunny. It made the day even more special. Thanks to all of you who sent congratulations. Now, back to painting, gardening, and being out of doors.