Easier said than done, but I am trying. Yesterday I wanted to paint something with pinks and purples in the sky. Today I wanted to paint something with reds and browns in the land.
So I ended up with this simple desert landscape, reminiscent of the American southwest. More or less. [touched up a bit the next day]
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| Desert Vista (oils, 11 by 14 canvas panel) |
It is fair to say that I am going through a phase where I am just playing with colors. I have been enamored with the (embarrassingly large) selection of Charvin Fine Oils I have acquired over the last month or so, and doing simple sketches like this serves several purposes. First, they do provide me the impetus to paint something every day. Second, they remove the pressure of sitting down to do "a painting" when I can try to trick myself into believing that I am just doing "a practice sketch." That might sound silly, but it works. This is just a practice sketch which I knocked out in about an hour. Which also happens to be an OK little painting.
Charvin colors in this one that I really like include Savanah, Naples Yellow, and Tropical Green (in the lower sky).
All beginner oil painting books and online tutorials would recommend that you start with either a primary palette (red, blue, yellow and white) or a split primary palette (a warm and cool red, a warm and cool blue and a warm and cool yellow, plus white). My collector-mentality OCD doesn't let me get past wanting ALL the colors. So...I adapt to the reality of me. I am going to buy all the colors (or at least most of them), so I might as well take them for a test drive...
There is something to be said for being self-aware, and accepting the reality of what you are. I will buy too many colors. I should learn to use them.
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