“Got a right to be wrong,

Got to sing my own song,

I might be singing out of key,

But it sure feels good to me”

       – Joss Stone

This song goes on to say that “I’m on a mission, If you care, don’t you dare blur my vision” and I guess that is where this painting is now. I can kind of see it in my head. The feel of it.

The yellow now methodically gets glazed over. I have had other oil painters ask why I bother with the yellow stage and to just mix up the colors I need as I go. Well, the yellow stage does quite a few things for me- it shows form through value with out thinking about color just yet. It then gets me thinking of the edges of those forms and how what is lit and non-lit merge into each other. Crucial. And then, of course, there is the yellow acting as a vibrating lit base which affects the upper layers. 

So I started with the hand. So much fun stuff to paint there. Veins and complicated forms. And at this point it is color matching. The colors glazed on top have to match the values I already set. It is a fun way to paint because color becomes more intuitive for me. Glaze purples. Glaze pinks. Match the form? Good to go. 

Fun is the key. I find that if I am not having fun while painting, then what is the point? 

While you are reading this, I am in Sante Fe this week teaching my portrait workshop. I get to shake up a whole room full of artists with Larry the Light Beam and the Power of Pastel. But if you want to join in the fun, I will be teaching pastel classes again this summer at the Greenville Center for Creative Arts.  Check out their website to sign up. 

https://artcentergreenville.org/

More on color next week.