Full Steam Ahead

March 1st is just around the corner and full steam ahead it is! Pictured here is a detail of painting #5. The detail is showing a very small portion because this is the "stool climbing canvas" and will be the largest in the exhibit. As some of you know, I started taking piano lessons a few years ago. This introduction to music opened vast amounts of subject matter to use in my paintings, and I have used a music theme here.  Old books, sheet music, bells, and music instruments were composed to design this work based on the piece in the Dutch exhibit by Rachel Ruysch, a floral.

This particular painting is filled with wonderful varieties of color, and I did not feel restricted here like I have using some of the other works. There are reds, pinks, subtle greens, sparkling whites, blue, and dark darks in the background. As time goes on and I progress from one painting to the next, I am discovering that there is a repetition of application of certain colors. Because there are not really that many, perhaps 20 or so different hues to use, the process of what combinations to make is expedited by the simple limitations of numbers.

It is surprising how many vibrant and harmonious colors can be achieved with only a few tubes of paint. Subtle creamy pinks come from white and vermilion, soft buttery yellows from lead tin yellow and white, and endless varieties of gray from all sorts of combinations such as burnt umber and white or a green earth, umber and white. There are also solutions to certain problematic paint characteritics such as the poor drying qualities of blacks. By mixing some dry burnt umber pigment to the black naturally expedites the drying, as burnt umber is a very quick dryer. The color is minimally altered, as the burnt umber really just warms the black somewhat.

As my explorations deepen with progress into this project, research is proving the painters of the 17th Century and before were able to create indescribably endless varieties of color combinations with few available pigments. This simplified work in the studios in spite of the fact they had to mix colors daily or every few days if pig bladders were used for storage. I am finding I like the simplification also, which perhaps will bring that "full steam ahead" to a full boil.