‘All students need to know about color is the basic color wheel and complimentary colors. There are many books on color theory; do not waste your time and money’. (Sergei Bongart) I don’t know this artist, but his quote about the colour wheel is spot on, and something which I find myself doing without thinking these days. Red always compliments green as can be seen in so many portraits painted by many artists. Green is nearly always used as an underpainting before the pink and red tones are painted on of the skin. Blue and orange are my personal favourite and I use these colours a lot, as shown here in the front of the cafe. I could have gone for the original brass finish and darker browns and golds, but to me that is too boring. Colour brings life to a painting. These two colours are very Mediterranean and symbolise warmth and sunshine. Lastly, purple and yellow, again a Mediterranean feel to these two colours. If I need to shade down yellow in one of my works, I rarely, if ever, use brown to provide shade. A touch of purple does the trick. So this painting is finished and…
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‘Bristol’s North Street Blues…. Oranges & Reds’. 4/5/17
This is a new painting I am working on alongside ‘Don’t Be A Dick’ which is nearing completion. As with ‘Don’t Be A Dick’, I am interested in painting local, recognisable, sometimes iconic scenes as a backdrop to my usual trademark female figure. So for Cape Town, we have the House Of Machines cafe with its eye catching Dont Be A Dick (no apostrophe!) and the bright red walls of the State Of The Art gallery where I show my art (http://stateoftheart-gallery.com ) to set off the girl with her ubiquitous mobile, a statement of our times. So it is with ‘Bristol’s North Street Blues…’. North Street is the lively, vibey street where I live, home to cafes, bars, independent shops and of course the street art festival Upfest held every year when graffiti and street artists descend on North Street from all over Europe to paint their distinctive scenes. I am particularly drawn to this recent street art which appeared and I decided to place my model in the front of part of it, sliding by in a bright red dress, oblivious of the scene beside her. Again, possibly a statement of our times. Hopefully, when this painting is…
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My son takes great exception to the fact that there is no apostrophe in the lettering in the cafe window featured here. He thinks I should put the apostrophe into the ‘Dont’. Normally I would agree, but the lettering doesn’t feature in the original, and as I hope this painting will one day soon hang in the gallery opposite the cafe, I feel it must reflect what the cafe shows. Sorry son….. The gallery is the red building reflected in the cafe window and is State Of The Art on Shortmarket Street in Cape Town (http://stateoftheart-gallery.com ). Drop in if you are passing, especially on First Thursdays when loads of galleries stay open in the evening on the first Thursday of the month in Cape Town. So much great art to see. I am getting down to the detailon this piece and should start pulling it altogether next week. Really becoming one of my favourite artworks. Painting large works for me. If you are in Bristol UK at the moment, go along to a great restaurant off Millenium Square which is showcasing an exhibition of art by Clifton Arts Club. I am showing some of my art there and…
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