Thursday, October 23, 2014

"Zen of Grey 2" --- Sold

I have abandoned the painting project I posted previously. I felt it went to the wrong direction, well I mean the direction I don't want to go. First of all it started using "good" colors on the cup to capture attention, but I intended to let the grey to tell the story mainly. Secondly, It gets into too much details so the painting turned into a long term project.

This painting is larger (12" x 12"). I managed to finish it in one session. To prevent me going the "wrong" direction like my previous painting, I gave myself a few rules: 1. do not remove my glasses during painting, by which I must stay quite far from the painting to see clearly; 2. use only large brushes (half in to 2 in wide). I really want my large paintings have a similar look of my small (6" x 6") daily paintings. This one is sort of on track.

The most important for this project is let the grey tell the story, not the "good" colors. Grey colors are very delicate colors. You can not be sloppy with it. We all know the absolution neutral grey is the center of the color wheel. It likes the bull's eye on a target. Can you get it casually? In Texas, there are many good shooters. They work hard to control their guns and get the bull's eyes. For artist, grey is difficult to mix. If you are not careful enough, you will make mud. In other words: mud is an insensitive (or uncontrolled) grey. So, Improving "grey sensitivity" is a serious homework we all need to do.

1 comment:

Jo Castillo said...

Wow! Very beautiful. You have captured the silver on the pot and the cup is a beautiful "white". Just lovely. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. They will inspire me.