New Work: Linked

Linked
acrylic on wc paper 12" x 16" image size-available

close up for texture marks

What started out as an experiment in balancing shapes and values turned into some ideas about color placement and relatedness, for lack of better terms. For this piece I had a certain feeling in mind first of all, and so I worked on that through color. Good. Then, as I was working on color I got to thinking about how all colors are mixtures of other colors. I also considered how primary colors which are single pigments have underlying color tendencies. As an example, the color red can lean towards blue (purple). It can also lean towards yellow (orange).  Many mixtures have a common primary base color too. Greens, (made up of blue and yellow), and oranges, (made up of yellow and red) both contain  yellow, a common primary base color.

So, long story short, the above painting "contains" my ideas about the color yellow that I used (which leans towards green) and the greens that I mixed (leaning towards yellow or blue) and the blues that I used (leaning towards red or purple). How would the underlying color tendencies of those single pigments and mixtures relate to each other and then how would the colors placed next to each other look? If my yellow was next to that violet blue would it appear to be more of an orange yellow? Could my yellow greens make the yellow seem more green or more yellow? How would the warmer greens do with the violet blues? This is probably one of the first times I have become consciously aware of color temperature (which to me means underlying primary color as well as a temperature feeling) and placement of colors next to each other for influence. I certainly consider temperature when painting but am not sure that I actively and consciously try to manipulate the feeling of it. I can't say I have a handle on it but it has me thinking.

Happy Mothers Day to everyone! Thanks for reading and commenting.

Libby