Friday, October 19, 2012

Bay Street Drizzle

8x10 oil on board
I have been focused on creating harmony in my paintings and so have been experimenting with limited palettes. The buildings on bay street in Toronto in this early evening commute seemed to be variations of violets and blues. I chose a mix of ultramarine blue and terra rosa (a color I rarely use but really enjoyed in this picture) for the main color scheme and added yellow ochre and cadmium red for highlights. (as well as ivory black and titanium white that I almost  always use.)
This painting is a study for a larger painting. Hopefully I can do the larger one maintaining the looseness. On larger paintings I tend to tighten up which is really annoying.

2 comments:

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Catherine,

I love this. On larger paintings if you use a larger brush it's hard to tighten up. I haven't seen this tightness you mention in your work, which I think is marvellous.

XO Barbara

Ramesh Jhawar said...

Hi Catherine,
Love this painting! Truly a good example of creating harmony using a limited palette!
And yes, I totally agree with your words where you said that a long break is not a good idea. I realized this, as it had been a long time since I painted and suddenly I began doubting my abilities as an artist! I kept on making excuses not to paint!
Thankfully, I recently purchased watercolor papers for sketching and made quite a few studies immediately which I've posted now on my blog! What joy and relief it gave me! :)