Monday, March 12, 2012

Creative Process 1--organizing the palette

I have decided to start journaling through my love affair with artistic media of all kinds. I think it is helpful (though how helpful, I cannot say at this point) to write down new ideas and tips I come across from time to time, plus outlines of the creative process.  As much as I would like to be a free spirit madly skipping  around a snowy canvas, I find the process confining rather than exhilarating and, to my annoyance, usually wrestle the paint or charcoal around until I get the desired effect.  This trial by error approach may be admirable in some respects;  after all I am trying different ways of doing things.  But I find that some order is necessary along with a record what I am doing wrong as well as what I am doing right.

Thus, putting this on my blog.  This blog will then live up to its title.

When I took a workshop last summer out in Colorado, my teacher told me I was way too free with where I put the paint on the palette.  I really didn' t didn't  think  it made any difference  But given the short time one has to paint outside in changeing light and colors, this advice made sense.  Now I am trying to think through two ideas on how to organize.
1. Putting the same paint in the same place each time and making it circular.  I would start, say at  8 o'clock with my blues, then at 12 o'clock with yellows then at 4 o'clock with my reds. Between blue and yellow would be my greens and between yellow and red would be a slough of browns and neutrals.  At 6 o'clock, I could put my white.

This palette would be the unmixed colors.  Which brings me to idea number 2.

2. When I am plen air painting I will do a thumbnail to emphasize values, then mix the colors I will use quickly and in enough quantity. Then, the idea goes,  I can concentrate the brush on canvas confident I have the right hues and can  (with more abandon) paint what I am seeing before the light changes yet again.

Anyway, that 's the idea.  I will let you know if it works..

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