23rd November 2006
Oil on Panel 7″ X 5″
Continuing the series of ulramarine blue/burnt sienna studies, in this one I wanted to get a way fromthe more unmixed sienna of thehanging garlicpainting, and explore the greys available from amix of the two colours with flake white.
Ultramarine and burnt sienna make a very nice range of greys, ranging from cool to warm. Thiscurrent series is really about exploring what can be done with a warm/cool contrast, so I wanted tosee what would happen if they were used more subtly.
This coffee pot is becoming an old friend now. I’ve drawn it three times, and painted it atleast six times. It makes a good subject for tonal studies, since I get to play with subtle changes on the mainwhite of the body, and deep black on the handle and the top. It’s also a good challenge,since the white shiny enamel has bright highlights which are easy to loose if the overall light blockgets too light in tone.
It’s interesting to compare this one to the raw umber version I did a couple of weeks back. You’dthink that only using ultramarine and burnt sienna would be limiting, but if you choose the right subjects,i.e. largely monochrome ones, there’s a world of subtlety to be found in the greys that those two colourscan produce. I may have only added one colour to the palette, but the dynamic range available to me bothin terms of colour and tone seems to have increased many times over. The two colours together can make a near black,which appears to be much darker in tone than neat raw umber. I’ve tried to keep to the warm shadows and coollights of the hanging garlic with this one, but without being quite so obvious about it.
Posted 23rd November 2006
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I too have had too many of those moments laltey. We’re at that time of the year where Randy’s only home to shower and sleep and yet in that short time he inevitably hears me get upset (and often rude) with one (or all of) our children. He’s gently suggested I seem a bit harsh at times but like you so accurately said, it’s hard to take each individual situation as just that instead of the week (or two, or three, or lifetime) built up behind it, Thank you for the affirmation that we all have days that we struggle but to keep trying to focus on the one situation in front of me. Oh, and congratulations on the Sienna. Hope it treats you well!