Saturday, January 3, 2015

30/30 Challenge-1/3/15

8" x 10" acrylic on wc paper
30/30 Challenge 1/3/15
How do I title these anyway? This is my piece for 1/3/15 for the 30/30 challenge. It is the same design as yesterday's piece only with a different color feeling.  Lately, as shown by the photo below, I have been saving the paper on which I mix my colors as I am painting. 

The papers, along with my photos and color notes, provide some inspiration. In that second column from the left, the swatch I used is all the way at the bottom. My feeling of Lake Alpine, on which the above piece is based, is generally one of "blueness." Though I don't have synesthesia, I tend to perceive a certain underlying color in many of the locations that I visit. Lake Alpine as I mentioned conjures up a blue kind of an idea. I have driven on highway 26 to Moke Hill and felt a 'yellowness" in the air. My drive from Copper the other day felt purple to me; well, lavender to be precise. I make color associations I guess. (I do it with people too. My one SIL is pink; the other is lavender or a pale blue. My husband is battleship gray, my BIL is brown while the other one is green. But I digress.) The point is that most scenes for me have a primary color and temperature as a base. I use those ideas as a starting point, as I did with the above piece. 

 I am happy with how I fine tuned this one. The process is becoming a little more clear each time: lay down a thin initial bit of paint; get the values and saturation where I want them; repaint and color correct; lay down a final coat of thick swaths of paint. I am learning too that getting nice brush strokes isn't just about applying more paint. The amount of water used, the stiffness of the brush and the control to only lay down one stroke at a time and then leave it are all variables. It's good stuff.

 So, for tomorrow I may just have a drawing. We'll see. The house needs to get cleaned, ya know!

 Thanks for reading and commenting,
Libby
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3 comments:

  1. Judy HartmanJanuary 3, 2015 at 2:29 PM

    Ya know, Libby, I feel like I have a decent vocabulary and I even studied Greek in college, but never heard of synesthesia!!! How extraordinary! I need to pay attention to people and things and see if they conjure up colors in my mind. What a thought!
    Anyway, I like your painting and your color mixing papers. I feel like I would want to cut up those mixing papers and make them into collages.
    Seriously, the synesthesia thing kind of blew my mind!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Pam HugginsJanuary 4, 2015 at 4:42 PM

    A lovely acrylic! And I too hadn't heard of synesthesia. So nice to learn new things! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lisa Graham January 13, 2015 at 4:45 AM

    Hi Libby! Looks like your year is off to a great start and it's great to see you are doing the challenge. That is true commitment! How ever did you find the word synesthesia? I haven't heard of it either. I enjoyed browsing through your previous posts to see what you've been doing. Particularly enjoyed your vanishing men and sketches post. You are so good at drawing human form.

    Have a great rest of the week Libby!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it! I reply back in an email if you are signed in and I can see your address. Otherwise I will post the reply here under your comment. I tend to cut and paste my emails too so that others can experience the back and forth which I think is integral to blogging.
Libby

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