Step-by-Step Color Evolution

Come take a peek at how the color evolved in this abstract painting!

I've been having fun with abstract art - admiring the way colors dance and play off of each other. And marveling in the freedom to paint over, to alter the look and feel with just small dabs of paint here and there.

I often get asked how I pull colors together and my usual answer is to simply play, then figure out what is and what isn't working! On this painting, I started with a complementary palette of red-orange and blue-green geometric swatches and thought I would share the last few steps I took to pull the colors together:

 I liked the basic colors and design, but felt that the composition was spotty - the contrast between dark red-orange and light teal too great.

So I painted over some of the red with more teal, added some dark teal accents as well as some drips of rust to help pull the teal and red-orange together.

A bit of white here and there helped draw the eye in a circle around the painting.

 I felt that the colors worked better with each other, however still too much emphasis on the dominant red-orange.

So I painted over more of the red, softened the white with a bit of rust and added drip lines of teal to better link the squares and make the geometric aspect a bit more obscure.

'Copper Age'

Painting

Flowers bloomed on my canvas

Playing with Paint

Moon Dance

Color Inspiration - Seaglass and Paint

I use manilla folders for my paint palettes, then when they are heavy with paint, put them back in the file cabinet - such cheerful homes for future files. This one was drying on my table next to a bowl of deep cobalt beach glass. I thought the combo was too gorgeous to pass up!

Color Inspiration - Red Rose Glow

My husband put in a rose garden last spring and I got to help him choose the varieties. How could I resist this lipstick red with it's inner glow of orange, especially encrusted with water jewels?

This Analogous color scheme glows with its gradual transition of color and is set off by a splash of complementary. I used this palette to paint a bouquet of poppies.

Playing with Paint

Pushing myself into a medium I'm not comfortable with
But loving the play of color!

Another Chapter

Last day teaching art... after 6 years of volunteering for 5 classrooms (about 1200 volunteer hours), I'm moving on. But so sad to leave such amazing kids who have given me so much inspiration, motivation and artistic confidence. Thank you for the beautiful reception you threw for me yesterday, the cards, the speeches, the hugs all mean so much!

About the photos above:

We always use card stock for our palette boards (easier than cleaning up 125 plates each week!). Then mix and swirl the left over paint to create backgrounds for the next project. The pear was painted on top of an old paint palette.