"Perigord Morning"
oil on linen panel, 8" x 10"
Isn’t it interesting how we hear something over and over and over, then one day the true meaning comes crashing in with a shock?
That happened in today’s painting session. Kevin MacPherson, modern impressionistic painter extraordinaire, writes about, preaches about and demonstrates how a painter must keep their color efforts confined to two families; light and shadow.
Well, here it is, Light and shadow. His point is simply this . . . . .that the values for the shadow family should never cross over into the light family . . .and conversely. I discover today that variations within the light and within the shadow families should be temperature changes . . .eg, color changes . . . warms to cools, etc . . .rather than value changes to show volume.
Today I forced my hand to fully paint the shadow family of values into the painting first. This sets the composition for early on and sets the stage for the light pattern. Working with roughly three different values within that group, it sets the mood immediately and opens the shadows to having more luminous color. Nice! And does it ever work!! I can smell the air in this painting!
And, yes, I caught myself saying out loud, “Oooohh! That’s what he meant!!
Labels: Design, learning, methods
