WARM COLORS for a Cold Winter

Oh dear!  It has been cold cold cold here for weeks, and probably many of us in the Northeast are ready for a change.   So I thought I'd try a little color therapy, making a piece using warm cozy colors.  The other inspiration is that I've always wanted to use this song, "Oh Dear", by Anne Janelle, in one of my videos.  It's on her CD "So Long at the Fair".

Celadon Winner!

Our winner, of the celadon paint package is Trish from Duluth.  Congratulations, Trish!  e-mail me with your mailing address, and I'll ship it out.  But the rest of you now know how to mix this color, so you should not lack for gorgeous neutral variations on Celadon.  If you order it from Blick, please ask them to make it available in 8 oz bottles.  AND tell them that the small bottles are hard to squeeze.  The more people who tell them these things, the more likely they are to offer what we want.  In fact, you can CONTACT BLICK and make these suggestions, without placing an order.

The Blick Matte Acrylics are better than cheap craft paint, but not nearly as heavily pigmented as professional grade paints.  However, what I like about them is their consistent opacity.  I generally use the white, black, celadon, and a few other neutrals:  sage blue, warm gray, Nimbus gray, and some of the pale oranges, turquoises, etc.  They are great for good coverage in muted colors.

One of you pointed out that Liquitex makes a similar color called Baltic Green.  I've used that as well; it's gorgeous, but a bit darker and over twice the price as Blick Matte Celadon.

In the above 9"x12" pieces you can see how the celadon makes the red really pop.  This is one of the issues we explore in Balancing Opposites: using muted colors to enhance bright colors.  We also look at busy areas vs. quite areas; soft edges vs. hard edges, and working with complimentary color pairs.  It is a fun way to look at the whole issue of composition.

Thanks for all your comments and participation in this giveaway.  Enjoy all your color mixing adventures!

Mixing Celedon and a GIVEAWAY

[It has been pointed out to me that I have misspelled CELADON.  Whoops!  Very bad manners.  I won't change it in the post or video; just humor me and my misspelling.  (Thanks, Lucie).]

I get asked about this color pretty frequently.  Celedon.  It's a color from Blick Matte Acrylics, and it is only available in 2 oz bottles.  I typically put four to six bottles of it in each Blick order.  I recommend you do the same, so that they might consider offering it in the 8 oz size.  However, you can mix your own, and get some variation and nuance to your taste:

This is the "piece" I made with the leftovers.

This piece obviously relies heavily on this celedon range of color.  This is an example in my Balancing Opposites composition course: balancing large areas with small elements.

This is the GIVEAWAY!!!

I am offering a giveaway that includes:

• 8 oz bottle of Black
• 8 oz bottle of White
• 2 oz bottle of Celedon
• 1 oz (I think) of Golden Open Hansa Yellow.  (The Open acrylics take longer to dry, but mixed with other colors they just extend the working time a bit).

To enter the drawing, just comment on this post, and identify yourself.  I will post a winner on Wedneesday, February 18, and it is the winner's responsibility to contact me with a mailing address.  Good luck!  And have fun mixing your own celedon and other beautiful neutrals.

Studio Notes

Here are a few more of the all-over "atmosphere" piece I've been working on, others of which I posted last week. I really like the all-over subtle, low-contrast pieces, but it's definitely out of my comfort zone.  I allowed myself to wander back into familiar territory with the shapes.

Red on Red, 9"x12"

Burnt Orange and Brown, 9"x12"

Aqua and Rust, 9"x12"

Red Rocks, 9"x12"

Blue Stone, 9"x12"

Another Cliff Face, 9"x12"

 The pieces below are a few of a series I've been working on this winter.  They are 20"x20" on paper.

This is not finished.

This one needs to sit for a while.

Thanks for visiting!

We Have A Winner

Thank you ALL so much for your kind comments on my guest blog post!  The response was overwhelming, and I wish I had a set of Golden paints for each and every one of you.  But I can give you a couple of downloadable "handouts":

• Working In Series (short article)
• Color and Paint (basic color terms and paint recommendations)

THE WINNER IS... Christine Jermyn in Toronto.  Congratulations, Christine!  E-mail me with a shipping address and I'll get the paints out to you.

Meanwhile, since I can't do a blog post without some kind of image, I'll show you what I'm working on in the studio: a series of "pieces" (really, they are just experiments) exploring all-over atmosphere, color, texture, without strong contrast of any kind.

Well, this one has a bit of contrast, but really soft edges.

I like the really monochrome aspect of this one.

I like these last two, but they stray from my initial intention of being mostly monochrome.  Will keep experimenting. We may do a series like this (with all technique demos) in the Abstract Painting workshop.  But you could try it on your own.

Thanks again for all your terrific comments on my guest post.

Paint Giveaway and Guest Blog Post

As promised, I'm offering another giveaway of a set of Golden Fluid Acrylics.  Just go to my guest post on the Pacific Northwest Art School blog, where you'll see a new video.  Leave a comment on that blog to enter into the drawing, and then check this blog on Thursday, where I will announce the winner.  Meanwhile, here is a little archived video that features Golden Fluid Acrylics.
Note that commenting on THIS blog post will NOT enter you into the drawing.  Go to the Pacific Northwest Art School blog, and comment on my post there.  Good luck!