Getting somewhere this week, as was not sure I could pull it off last week. A handy tip I pass on, for what it is worth, is about perspective. If you feel you are struggling with this, or just feel something is not right, either hold the painting upside down, or hold it up to a mirror. You will straightaway see where you are going wrong. I think the eye gets too used to what it is seeing and can’t see the errors, whereas we all know the mirror can’t lie… At the life class I run locally, I sometimes suggest a student holds a small mirror to their shoulder so they can see their painting and the model at the same time. They will then (hopefully!) see immediately where they are going wrong. Interesting eh?
For some reason, I have a horror or browns and greens in my paintings, and am not sure why. Maybe it is because I am a Piscean water sign and I always lean to the blues, purples and lights, I don’t know. So with the floor in this painting, I know I have to have it dark to contrast with the lilac chairs, but I am desperately adding in blues and purples to the brown get away from dingy! Likewise the dress on the left has to be for me a turquoise shade as opposed to the original green….
Looking at the dress on the right, I am aware it is too like the chairs tonally, so next week, when the paint is dry I will add in some of the turquoise from the other dress, which will then link both images, a tip I learned from somewhere. Put colours from one object, say the curtain, into the background white (in small quantities) and then hopefully the painting pulls together.
Finally, I find a colour wheel immensely helpful (Google it, it is worth a look) in sorting out colours – what complimentary colour goes with another. For instance, the chairs now have a lilac sheen, and the complimentary colour to purple/lilac is yellow, so I have adapted the blind behind to be yellower, or more yellow ochre, than the original bland shade, and I think it works. I may knock it back a little bit tonally next week, when I come back to it.
Looking forward to more detail on the shoes and faces next week.
www.michewatkins.com
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