Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Softly Spoken - Experiment in Low Contrast



Oil on Canvas, 60 x 70 cm

Often the strongest statements are understatements.

I had to adjust this in Photoshop, to reach the quiet colors. The camera saw right through the grayish thin layers of paint, to capture the stronger shades below.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008



Les Boulevards de Paris
oil over acrylic antecedent, 70 x 80 cm

After writing my previous post, I decided to translate the name of this painting into French.
This is FINAL stage (oops, unsigned still).
Le kaki, c'est une couleur jolie, n'est pas?

Experimentation in Contrasts
Oil over acrylic undercoat, on canvas, 120 x 140 cm.
Folks, it's finally done.
This painting has gone through so many alterations and altercations. Or as the French would say, "boulerversements".
Big and graphic, with contrasting round red shapes, and angular green ones; fussy with warm cold contrasts within the reds; loss of contrast between patterned and flat areas; focus on the background purple "negative spaces"; refocus on the objects, the "positive spaces"; discovery of the contrast between the brilliant reds and the mud reds; muted contrasts; finally creating contrast between "big" and "small" areas of color.
I would post a slide show of the stages, if I could figure out how to.