Blue/Orange

Introducing color harmonies in the class I teach by using complementary palettes. Today is blue and orange. I'm including one view of the set up as well as my painting. 8x8

In the Studio

The class I teach at Beach Studios has started up again and I thought I'd share my paintings from those classes. I don't manage to get them finished during class but they do serve as reference as to:

1. Determining a composition from a setup. I highly suggest small thumbnails to see how the painting will fit in the picture plane. This saves valuable time later when you discover the orientation is wrong, should have been vertical and not horizontal  or worse, the center of interest has managed to not even be on the canvas.

2. I demonstrate color mixing and how to see relative value.

I have gone back into this painting and made several changes which I think improve it:

1. Changing the background to a more neutral warm grey.

2. Changing the right hand shape and the color around it to echo some of what is happening in the plate. 

3. Increased the value around the lemon and on the plate to emphasize those shapes. 

Sometimes a painting has to sit a bit before I can "see" it and make changes. What do you think?