Sunday, July 26, 2009

"Stuck Together" - SOLD



I REALLY like this one. I've been thinking a lot lately about my propensity to put things down as I see them. I mean, obviously I interpret a bit, but when it comes to color, I stay fairly true to what I see. It seems to be in my nature. But I'd like to experiment with exaggerating some colors and maybe ... maybe even putting some colors where they aren't at all! I've heard that if you stay true to value (light/dark), you can make the colors anything you want. I keep thinking I'll do one wild and crazy painting where no one color is true, but I haven't found the guts for it yet. I feel if I can do one extreme version of this then I'll be more likely to experiment in small amounts elsewhere. Any advice?

18 comments:

Mary Sheehan Winn said...

Really, Carol.
I never get tired of these simple but dynamic setups. The fabric is beautifully done. I'm even hoping you'll do some peppers again ;)
I have no advice about the wild color, but I will say that I begin to see the compliments in the painting and to play them up. I'm struggling to paint a white object with the clarity that you do, by NOT putting in so much color. Maybe it's just about the way we see color. Whatever you do, will be lovely.

Mark Bridges said...

I have a pair of 3d glasses, i use the red lens to check for values. I was thinking of just looking through the red side to squirt out some random paint, then paint and see how it comes out. It would look monochrome the whole time until i took off the glasses. There a few folks that do nice painting in wild colors but when you convert to gray scale, it looks like a blank canvas. All color and no values. Harley does a lot of wild colors in proper values and you/we like his work. go for it.

robin peterson said...

No guts, no glory.

Sorry Carol I couldn't resist! I'm generally a silent follower but I really enjoy your blog, thanks for sharing.

Carolyn Finnell said...

As they say, no guts, no glory. Go for it. What's the worst thing that could happen? A wiper?

Gary said...

Go for it girl (as they say on the movies)give us a treat! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ... it is great fun and almost unbelivable. I can't wait to see purple apples and blue bananas.

Adventures in Daily Painting said...

My advice is...Just do it! You only live once...
xxxooo

Shirley Peters said...

I use photoshop when I want to take risks. Play around with the original picture in PS, changing a color or tonal value, then output a print, then paint that... it might help with the transition.

Kelley Carey MacDonald said...

I always heard that if you got the values right, the color could be anything, too, but I've never had the guts to try! I do have a successful friend who hates the color of roads, so her roads are always yellow, pink or green, and they look right - nobody notices the oddness of the color till she brings it up. I like this one, especially the little calligraphy on the cloth.

Coffee and Carmex. ☕️ said...

I tried to think of some really "highly evolved" response to your question about using colors that arent there...but it's just too early in the morning!! LOL!! Then I remembered when I was in art school and we talked about doing new things...fear of something new, fear of the thought of wiping a whole canvas, or a portion, etc. Then I remembered my teacher say something very simple..."no one is watching!!" It made us all laugh, but you can try ANYTHING!! No one has to see it, or watch while your doing it, and it takes some of the trepidation away. (and makes you laugh in the process!!!) keep us posted...you rock!

Liz said...

Yes, there is something special here - I notice the cloth which you don't usually have and it makes the composition interesting. I think it's that dark space in the cloth above the middle apple and the V shape of the cloth maybe? Re your right color/value thing - I have the same bent for sticking to what I see - maybe you could do a grissaille first from life, let it dry, return to it with colors later. Like using purple/value for apples, ochre complement/value for cloth etc. I guess we always look for the surreal in the real? Anyway we might find more freedom to use colors? What do you think?

myra anderson said...

This is so beautiful. I love the 'harmony of greens'. I think you should go for it and experiment with the colors. Your paintings are already very beautiful - you will probably come up with some kind of unique painterly discovery!!

Unknown said...

Don´t try it!. It´s very dangerous, you´ll loose your style, a lot of money, the studio will probably fall down and on the other hand I´m sure the F.B.I. will arrest you for changing the style without permit

Anonymous said...

I've done the same with animal figures (i.e. a blue horse, etc), but never anything big in size. I think the key is to make sure the form is recognizable and then tweek the color.

Give it a go!!! Such fun to play!!!

James said...

Ok - you're a committed painter and besides being obviously competent in your subject, a big chunk of your development trajectory is visible in public on the internet which is a great experiment in itself. Your development is bound to evolve and change so it would be great to see you experimenting so please go for it.

I'm not really sure I understand myself what you're saying though about wild and crazy colours - do you mean like Fauvism or something?

Have you done constraining things like paint all in the one colour just using different tones or just using three primary colours and white maybe?

milindmulick said...

this is good! and I would love to see your "pushed" colorist experiments

JanettMarie said...

You may want to think about whether a color is cool or warm... and the way the cool will go back generally and the warm color will come forward...
Otherwise, go for it!

Carolina said...

I love this painting, Carol, green over green, but so different textures (and then, the pastel purple)...
We'd all enjoy to see a couple of fauvist pieces made with your own style, please give it a try :)
Best regards,
Carolina

Lisa Daria said...

Carol -

You know how you choose a color to tone your entire canvas with? Do that but maybe tone different areas in different colors - see what colors 'wink' at you in different spots and leave those poking through?

Regardless if you play around with color more your colors are gorgeous and your work perfect! Of course that goes without stating - it is fun to experiment though.