Blue Complimentary-Analogous Study - 3

The past few nights I have been working with a loaded brush that I don't clean in-between colors and that is where the muddiness in these recent paintings is coming from. I also did a video while I painted. Will upload that in a separate post linked to my YouTube Channel - Stephen Jensen.

I'm going to stop doing that.

Color palette included:
Primary Blue
Primary Yellow
Cadmium Orange Hue
Naphthol Crimson
Titanium White
Mars Black

All photos are Liquitex Acrylic paint shot with a Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone.

Blue Complimentary-Analogous Study - 3, February 27, 2014 (18x24) 

Blue Complimentary-Analogous Study - 2 - Video

My first video of my painting process done with Liquitex Acrylic paint shot with a Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone in recording mode. The painting is a study of color theory taking blue and the analogous colors across from it on the color wheel and exploring how they work together - and working abstractly is a great way to focus on the colors.

As I work on my studies I find I sometimes over-work the image and lose good stopping points when the painting isn't finished but it has come as far as I should take it. Being able to see a video of the painting process may help me to identify better where it all goes wrong and I lose the work I did. However, I'm not one to give up on an image. I have many images waiting for me to salvage them and a few I actually did save. Some however are beyond saving and end up in the trash (dramatic music playing in the background).

I had some problems setting up the smartphone in a jury-rigged Dynex mobile device mount. The mount was loosely clamped to a wood yard stick spanning two travel totes - which straddled the painting. Every time I moved, got up or breathed it shook. Anyway, this is my first time and I'll try to get it right next time.

I have to figure out something better.

Blue Complimentary-Analogous Study - 2

I wanted to do a painting and a video of my process. I'll put the video in my next post from YouTube.

I start with the canvas pad flat on a table. As I go where I feel the paint is too wet or I want to get a look at it from another angle I'll pick it up and view it in a mirror so I can see the reverse. Reversing the image helps to identify problems with colors - sometimes a color is spread too thin, is too bright, too dark, too... something... Reversing the image also helps to identify balance issues. When I first started out studying painting in college many years ago an instructor showed the class a trick to see balance issues. He said we should look at our painting in a large mirror. The reverse image we'd see would show if the subject we were painting was tilting - and there I saw it. Many of my paintings of nudes, still-lifes and landscapes were tilting all the same way.

So now a part of my process is to pick the painting up and look at it in a large mirror to help me prevent the tilting. And every once in a while when I read a favorite art magazine I'll see an artist who obviously doesn't do this. Their loss.

Color palette included:
Primary Blue
Primary Yellow
Cadmium Orange Hue
Naphthol Crimson
Titanium White
Mars Black

All photos are Liquitex Acrylic paint shot with a Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone.

Blue Analogous Study - 2, February 26, 2014 (18x24)

Black Study

I did this earlier this month, but can't remember the date so I'll date it as February 2014 and leave it at that. I know it isn't a successful attempt, but I promised myself I'd put everything I've done up - whether it is good or not. After all I'm not trying to make a living at this. I'm just exploring painting.

There were points in the painting that showed promise, that showed I was taking the right direction. Sometimes I think I should use the recording feature of my phone and do videos of the paintings as I progress so we can see how my process progresses. Perhaps I will do that.

Color palette included:
Mars Black
Primary Yellow
Cadmium Orange Hue
Naphthol Crimson
Primary Blue
Deep Violet
Phthalocyanine Green
Titanium White

All photos are Liquitex Acrylic paint shot with a Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone.

Black Study, February 2014 (18x24)

Blue Tonal Study

I decided to continue with the colors I had selected for my last painting Blue Complimentary-Analogous Color Study. But as I progressed I worked more toward keying on blue and using colors with blue as opposed to including them as separate tonal explorations in the same painting. I think the next tonal study I need ensure more than one color is explored. This "blue" study is very boring.

Color palette included:
Primary Blue
Cadmium Orange Hue
Primary Yellow
Naphthol Crimson
Mars Black
Titanium White

All photos are Liquitex Acrylic paint shot with a Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone.

Blue Tonal Study, February 25, 2014 (18x24)

Blue Complimentary-Analogous Color Study

Challenging myself by selecting a primary color - blue - and taking it's complimentary color - orange - with the analogous color next to it, yellow, yellow-orange and orange-red, red. This represents about three hours worth of study. There's always some tonal study (a color's gray-scales) and perhaps I should do a tonal study tonight - all gray-scale. And perhaps tomorrow night I'll do one painting without using lines. I'll just do huge swatches of color.

Should be fun!

Color palette included:
Primary Blue
Cadmium Orange Hue
Primary Yellow
Naphthol Crimson
Mars Black
Titanium White

All photos are Liquitex Acrylic paint shot with a Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone.

Blue Complimentary-Analogous Color Study, February 24, 2014 (18x24)

No Black or White study with Blue

This will be the last of the "no black or white" studies.Even if I'm showing "Some" understanding of how to work without black or white it only works with the warm colors - red, orange and yellow. The cool colors - green, blue and violet are too dark. This began as a study in blue but it was too dark and screamed for something to lighten the blue - and that, usually, is white.

Color palette included:
Primary Yellow
Cadmium Orange Hue
Naphthol Crimson
Primary Blue

All photos are Liquitex Acrylic paint shot with a Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone.

No Black or White study with Blue - February 20, 2014 (18x24)