The Blues #45, 2009, Oil on Cradled Panel, 10x10When I started moving into the abstracts, my mind was full of all kinds of directions they could take. I realized that I would have to choose just a few of those directions to focus on, mostly so that my head wouldn't explode with all the possible possibilities.
One direction that I decided on was to change the color of my underpainting. This is not exactly uncharted territory for me; in college I worked on top of several different underpainting colors, brown umber, greens, blues, even black. And when I began painting the landscapes almost six years ago I experimented with several different colors before settling on the orange/red color that has consumed my interest since then.
But I have been fascinated with trying my hand at painting on a blue ground, and the abstracts seemed like the perfect opportunity. So I gave it a shot. I have done several now, and so far I am quite pleased with the results. Still working out the kinks as far as composition goes and it turns out that painting color over blue instead of red is like learning a whole new language. The regional dialect of a whole new language, actually.
The Blues #44, 2009, Oil on Cradled Panel, 10x10So far I have kept the palette very minimal. I may expand it at some point but a. I am enjoying working with a limited palette for the first time in many years and b. most of my experiments in using a wider variety of colors have failed miserably. I think expanding the palette on the blue ground may be a very gradual process, just as it was on the red.
I am putting up a few of my favorites. This part of the series is called "The Blues'. Oh and it turns out that these are infinitely more difficult to photograph than my work usually is, which is already nearly impossible. There is one that I simply gave up on, I just couldn't get the colors even close in the jpeg. Gotta see them in person for the full effect of their "shimmer" as Doug calls it. So let me know if ya wanna stop by sometime. Heh.
This one is my favorite so far and have decided to keep it for myself:
The Blues #72, 2009, Oil on Cradled Panel, 5x3I will start another batch of The Blues next week to post on my sales blog.
6 comments:
Since I am not a painter, I had no idea that underpainting was so complex. Kind of like when I dye yarn for my tapestries and rugs, and even more so for the ikat work I've been doing lately. Love reading about process and the direction your taking.
I really like these Tracy! Such unusual color schemes. It's so much fun watching an artist expand on new ideas. You really inspire me to stretch beyond my comfort zone.
I've been without a computer for two weeks, and I come back to see you've changed your direction. I love these! I like the one your keeping. Do you drag something through your paints? Looking forward to more experiments with your under color.
Hmmm... I especially like the last one. Cyanotype coloring. Yum-yum.
very subtle.. i really love the quietude of them.
They actually do have a glow along the edge of white / blue. Very nice. One might say "cool"
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