Tuesday, December 28, 2010

shape vs. detail

7x11 pastel on somerset

Doing quick paintings is a good way to practice strong shapes and eliminate superfluous detail. When you do small quickies you need to nail big value and the important design patterns. This was a perfect opportunity for me to practice just that. When I was in Chicago yesterday (delayed flight snafu) Linda took us on a walk at sunset. Now, I am really not a whimp, but it was COLD.  SO COLD. By the time we got back to the car it was 10 degrees. The walk was beautiful. I tried to memorize everything through my tearing eyes. This is the best I can do. I think I will do many of these studies to try color combinations to get the glow.
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7x11 pastel on somerset

PS It is sooooo good to be home with the kitties. Luchianna is ready for her big job on Saturday.

5 comments:

Bob Lafond said...

Loriann, Your day is upside down. Usually you post way too early for me. Walking in the cold is good. Painting in the cold...

Katherine van Schoonhoven said...

It LOOKS cold there. Chicago winters can be brutal and that cold wind off the lake --- tears for sure. What new color combinations will you try? Is there something about this one that you didn't like?

loriann signori said...

Hi Bob,Yes walking in the cold is good...but there are some limits to painting in the cold. I draw the line at 20 degrees, because as you know we when painting in pastel the fingers can't be covered. I wear fingerless gloves, don't you? And they have their limits to keeping your fingers warm and moving.

Hi Kvan,
Yep, Chicago is way too cold for me. As for color combinations, I think there may be a better one to get the feeling I want. I think I will try pink underneath in the sky and violet in the land. These had orange and magenta as the underpainting. The top had more contrast the bottom less. My questions how dark do i need to make the land mass to make the sky glow? The winter air tends to make a "frosting/glaze" on the trees rather than contrast. Hmmmmmm. Let's see. Thanks for asking.

Lynne E. Windsor said...

Really like these Loriann... I wake up to your postings every morning! Sometimes a little too early for me to make sense in a comment, then the day begins and I get busy! Trying to figure out why... colour, shape, simplicity... abstraction?

loriann signori said...

You got it Lynne...that's where I hope to be going. Trying to learn from the simplicity and abstraction of someone like Rothko while still staying true to landscape. Using less information and creating more vibration. Hard to do.
Thanks for checking into my blog each day. It's really nice to know that you are out there.