New Work: Now and Then

Now and Then
image size 15" x 18"

The piece above was finished on Thursday. There were a few things that I wanted to try, design wise. Could I do something with a really deep and rich color like that red? I was nearly finished with the piece when I started examining that red space. I really loved the larger expanse of red area on the top right. Leaving it as is seemed possible. The red color was so deep that it could really have been its own shape. I was sort of casting about for what to do, trying out different shapes and values. There was a circle in a very dark blue with a chunk cut out of it. I placed it in that spot and really liked it except for the value which I thought was too dark. On a whim, I grabbed the dark gray color and held it up. It looked good to me so I cut out a similar shape and decided to use that instead. I put a little gray on the other side for some balance and added a green line too for the same reason.

The other thing I wanted to try was using line to create a kind of tonal pattern.  I like the idea of one color pushing into another color, one shape extending into another shape. Sort of like a zipper effect if that makes sense. I tried it out and liked it right away. 

The whole thing has a kind of retro feel to me, almost like I want to say "atomic age" and have that describe things. The title of Now and Then seemed kind of fitting instead. No one seems to be talking about nuclear weapons these days. Are they just passe' or something? Maybe the subject has been supplanted by something else. Lately I have noticed that my reference points for things are a curious mixture of old and new. I guess that just means I am getting older. 

I hope to start another piece today. Yesterday I spent the afternoon painting papers to use in future pieces. The process is really fun for me though it takes some time. Over the past 7-8 years, I have tried to learn about a variety of materials and techniques. Of the few skills that I developed, I am most happy with what I have learned about mixing colors. I feel very confidant in my ability to see a color (either one that is in front of me or one in my mind) and to get a pretty accurate rendition of it in paint. I took a lot of time to learn about paint properties, most specifically underlying color tendency and value and chroma. (There are technical terms for these things but this is how I think of them.) I've met artists who don't know much about their paint and aren't terribly interested. That's OK. It's probably a tedious subject for people. I like knowing the "why" of things though, always have. Don't just tell me to do something "because." It won't work! I have to know why! So, my time yesterday spent painting paper is just more mileage in learning. To me it is time well spent.

Hope everyone will have a good weekend. We are finally expecting cooler weather and, wait for it, maybe some rain????? Could it be true? We will see. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Libby