Art Journal

Color can give a whole different feel to a painting and using a limited palette can be a great exercise in color experimentation.  After reading from Joe Pototschnik's book Limited Palette, Unlimited Color  I've been trying various color palette ideas.

One of his suggestions to try is what he calls using a Primary Dominant palette, a red, yellow or blue dominant palette. For instance a red dominant palette would include blue violet, violet, red violet, red, red orange, orange, and yellow orange. You would only be able to mix colors from that group of colors. I decided to try what I called a green dominant palette, not a primary set but anyway I went ahead with it. My colors ranged from yellow orange, yellow, yellow green, green, green blue, blue, blue violet. Because I was not using this secondary based palette I had no reds. I chose to try a scene from an overcast day and used this palette to turn it into an early morning scene. Using a different palette can change the mood of scene making it look like a different time of the day or night.

Here's a section of the color wheel I picked. and below is the painting I did, Crane Sunrise, 12 x 24

Original photo.

Here are a few plein air paintings I've done in the last couple weeks. All of these have been done in that late winter period that's really good for painting - snow patches still around but nice enough weather to not freeze to death while painting. Soon all the snow will be gone until next year. The snow provides some really nice contrast to the uniform brown we often have otherwise, and gives a chance to use those shades of blue and purple and pink.

Snow Banks, 9 x 12

Still Fighting, 9 x 12

Along the River, 9 x 12

Here's the original painting I posted a while ago that I did on a snow-flurried morning. I felt it had some possibilities for making a larger painting and I ended up making a 16 x 20 painting using the sketch and photos I took at the scene. The color is changed somewhat from the original plein air.  I wanted to get a more blue look to the scene. It's a challenge to make a larger painting from a plein air sketch, and a skill that I am trying to learn.

This is the original plein air painting Snowy Fields, 8 x 10.

Here's the larger painting, Snow in the Air, 16 x 20.

Here are a couple large paintings I finished recently, to be included in the new series I am working on that I mentioned in a previous post. Both of these feature irrigation ditches, common in this part of the world.   

This painting, Winter Waterway, 16 x 20 is one of the recent paintings. 

This second one is Irrigation, 20 x 16,

Snow adds a lot of color to any winter scene introducing blues and violets and maybe pinks to what would ordinarily be just a palette of various browns. I always get intrigued by the patterns it makes as it melts off too. Here's a scene I did in late afternoon along a trail as the snow was melting off. We've had more snow since and I expect more in March (one of our snowiest months) but this was particularly lovely as the sun was going down and the colors got richer.

Almost Spring, 9 x 12