Day 19: 30/30 Challenge

Day 19 30/30 Challenge

One of the good side results of this challenge is an improved set of working habits. Probably the most important thing is patience. Changing the water frequently, using a clean brush dipped in clean paint, and changing the palette paper when there is no space left (i.e. not mixing new paint on old paint) are some key items that require you to slow down and give yourself over to the process of painting. The other important thing is something that I have always heard about but have had a hard time doing: laying down one clean stroke and leaving it! I have always worked back into wet paint and have gotten good results. Mixing paint right on the surface can produce some desirable effects. However, you can't discount the  benefit of a decisive stroke that has thought and meaning behind it. You are forced to assess value, color, and saturation prior to putting any paint on the paper (or canvas). Additionally, you have to stop and think and this forces you out of automatic pilot mode. My blogging buddy Celeste talked about this one stroke thing on her blog today (with reference to Carol Marine's new book). It's a hard habit!

In any case, the above piece is today's effort for the 30/30 challenge. For this one I wanted to work with two sets of opposites. The warmish yellow and the coolish violet are starting to grow on me. I also used what I think of as more of a blue-green. I paired it with more of a red-orange. So, my goal was to work within a range of each of those two hues. I selected a red-orange that leans farther towards red than yellow. And I selected a blue-green that leans more towards blue. It wouldn't be unreasonable to suggest that I should have used a more green-blue with that red-orange. It would have been logical. But, maybe predictable. Maybe, maybe not. The violet here leans more towards blue than red. The yellow leans more towards red than a pure yellow. At what point to you step aside from rules and sort of do something a little different? I like working within a broader range and still staying with the idea of opposites. And the point of this piece was to try that out. Tomorrow's piece includes the same color combo and so I may mix that up. we'll see.

OK, hope everyone's week is off to a good start. Thanks for reading and now, go break some rules! Sort of...
Libby