Painting and the Color Wheel

Mr Ronald asked me to expand on something I mentioned a while back about the color wheel and painting.

All too often, we look at an object and say, "this part is in shadow so I will use cool colors to define it, and I will use warm colors to define my highlights." or vise versa.... But! When you reeeeeaaaaally look at the colors within any particular shape and value, you will see amazing variations of reds, blues, yellows, and their combinations.
Colors reflect off of everything around a subject. Look for it. The biggest mistake every artist makes at one time in his or her life is the assumption that an orange is actually orange.

The more I look for slight variations within a color, the more colors I see. If I can do it, anyone can.

Does that help?

WIP- Gated Community

I was roaming around Mason County early one morning and came across this gorgeous little scene. I loved the lighting and the cacti growing unchecked behind the fence. My husband came up with the title. He is really good with titles, which is great because I am not.

I started this piece by doing a pretty detailed sketch on the red primed canvas, then laying in my shadow areas with varying thicknesses of "dark." Kind of feeling the urge to lay in the sky next to balance out some of that dark and help put things into perspective. Balance is everything!... And nothing all at once... We'll see how the work progresses over the next few days.


18x24

Summerfield

Another new addition to Whistle Pik Galleries, I painted this one in December from a reference photo of a homestead in the Tivydale area.

To me, this piece oozes summer breezes, buzzing insects, and the glorious smells of warm grasses and fresh earth.
I love summertime!

Summerfield
5x7
Oil on canvas panel

East Gate

I painted this little plein air piece at the opening for Whistle Pik's Fall Show 2011, and it finally made it's way into the gallery this month.

A fun painting, I loved all the reflected light on the brickwork and the glowing backlit leaves above the gate.

East Gate
5x7
Oil on canvas panel

Ideas

We drew names for Christmas this year, and I got my mother-in-law's, Sylvia, in a round about sort of way.... Nick and I traded, Hahaha!
I went out to the folk's place a couple of times trying to get some reference photos of one of Sylvia's horses, but kept coming up with duds.
Then Nick mentioned Bo, who has been gone for years. Apparently, some lucky people get a "once in a lifetime" horse, and Bo was Sylvia's. So, we hung out one evening until Sylvia went to sleep and John, my father-in-law, and Nick started digging up picture after picture of Bo.
I chose two of this location in Missouri with John and Sylvia riding Bo and Jolie, and combined the subjects and background.

I like how it turned out!

Walkin' On Water
9x12
Oil on canvas panel

2093
24x12
oil on canvas

Such a simple painting, but of all the pieces I have done of that sweet little homestead, this is one of my all-time favorites. 2093 found a new home while at the Fall Show 2011 at Whistle Pik Galleries.  

One of my favorites

A while back, Nick and I were on a back road to Sandy, TX and we came across this bull pen. It was loaded with beefy, fat-headed Herefords (which looked kind of odd since the cattle everywhere else looked like stick figures because of the drought). I drove back about a week later and sat waiting for dawn. I took several hundred photos and used two. Haha!

I love the warm reflected light in the cool shadows of the bulls' faces.
I got to study contrast with this piece- lost and found lines, warm and cool colors, and light and dark values.

I would have been very happy to keep the Three Stooges, but they sold in the November show. They are where they are supposed to be, and I am grateful they have a wonderful home.

The Three Stooges
9x12
Oil on canvas panel