Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Blue On Blue......Did I Mention It's Blue?

Blue on Blue
12 x 12 inch gallery wrapped canvas
Acrylic paints
From my own photo

This is a bitty blog about a bitty blue painting called “Blue On Blue”. 
It might be I have a certain fondness....uhmmm..... maybe a teensy obsession....... with “midnight blue” or cobalt blue or Phthalo blue. The other day I found an old photo of some bluebells I'd photographed in a mini photo shoot, dramatically lit with cloth drapery. I pulled out a small 12 x 12 inch canvas and began to paint

I decided on a analogous (colors close together on the color wheel) color scheme, with ultramarine blue, phthalo blue, and a deep magenta violet with a compliment of a warm deep brown. A few light grace notes were included for the pastels of the budding pink bluebells.


I saw immediately saw I would have to drastically simplify the background in order to focus on the delicate flowers. As you can see from my photo reference I cut out all the extraneous background items and kept it a deep dark value. You can see my little post it reminder to check: Light vs Dark, Sharp edges vs Soft ones, Linear lines of the glass vase vs the masses of the cloth and bright intensity of colors like the green backlit leaf vs the greyed drapery behind.


The painting quickly came together, and I got my “blue” fix for a little while.