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Tuesday, March 06, 2018

Pick a Color, Any Color!

'The Edge of Magic'            8x10       pastel      ©Karen Margulis
available $145
I pick blue! I wanted to challenge myself this week by doing only monochromatic paintings. Having only one color family to think about results in one less decision to make when painting. I am free to play with marks and expression. These things sometimes get neglected when we are overly focused on choosing the right colors.


Trying out a frame to see if I am finished

I had finished my weekly Patreon video and looked down a the tray of gorgeous blue pastels. I wasn't finished exploring and playing with them! So I pull out a discarded painting from the pile. It was on old Pastelbord with a bad attempt at plein air. It was easy to brush off some of the loose layers and et down the rest with rubbing alcohol.



The old painting turned on the side. Tilt your head to see the painting.

Brushed off and liquified with rubbing alcohol .Reference photo on top right
The new blue base was perfect for my forest scene. I even had some suggested tree trunks! It was fun exploring the forest using only blue pastels. I allowed myself a variety of blues and a variety of brands. I had a selection of warm and cool and dark, middle and light value. How many different blues can you see in the painting?

Tomorrow I will share another blue monochromatic painting along with tips for painting with one color family.

2 comments:

robertsloan2art said...

I love this! Monochrome paintings are gorgeous anyway, there are so many interesting things you can do with a monochrome. Blue is one of my favorite colors for it because it actually happens in nature, for a little while in morning and evening the world turns saturated blue and it's so lovely. Your painting just draws me right in, it's magical and misty and gorgeous. Not quite twilight but hints at it. The light is gorgeous there. It's like brighter twilight, morning in fairyland.

Sandig said...

Hi Karen...I have been lacking inspiration lately. This article has inspired me to try “pick a color” . I’m back at the easel today! Thank You!