Friday, April 20, 2007

painting with a limited palette





















So, having finished the four A4 charcoal studies required for the first project in my painting course, the next step was to paint the still life I'd been drawing, on A2 paper, using a limited palette of three colours only (black, white, yellow ochre) and beginning by painting the negative space. The idea was to concentrate on shape and tone, to get a feel for them in paint, and not to worry about the detail of the objects themselves. The idea was not to come up with a polished, "finished" painting. This is a photo of the painting on my drawing board. The yellow has come out a lot more intense in the photo than it is in real life. I enjoyed the exercise a lot more than I thought it would. Once I started, I tried not to think too much and just kept going.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I bought some gouache today...

and papers...

and am considering to join an art class. the question is ...when/can I find the time?

i love the feel of the ochre. nice but not too overwhelming. Just enough to give the work some warmth.

Melissa Connolly said...

Great job! I love the blocks of color and shadows and warm light...