simultaneous contrast

So, now I begin to blog about the workshop.
Richard says, "If you merely copy what's in front of you, you are rendering reality. An artist needs to make choices, to take responsibility for what he/she wants the viewer to see, do and feel through the painting. You, the artist, are the magician. A painting is a compromise of reality."
That statement was fully in my mind when creating this painting. I chose the vertical (format with a push, dynamic...not my usual.) While painting I constantly  thought about simultaneous contrast. Anyone who has been fortunate to take a workshop with Richard knows that if there is one thing he preaches it's simultaneous contrast. Defined simply: nothing is what it is till it has a relationship. It's like reading...the words on the page in isolation mean nothing till  that word works with the other words and makes beautiful prose or poetry. One word, or one letter is nothing until it works in concert with others.
So always ask yourself...what color do I want next to that, instead of what color is it.

Here is Richard talking about simultaneous contrast. The two gray squares are the same color, yet they appear different on red vs. blue. The other picture is Richard holding the demo painting he did in the field.

A big apology to all my blogger friends. I am missing seeing your blogs and adding comments. I will return...right now I am just keeping my head above water to do this. :-D

simultaneous contrast/ Opal Light

9x9 pastel on Uart

There are two ideas that Richard preaches: 1. simultaneous contrast, and 2. value does the work, color gets the glory. I will begin with simultaneous contrast. First read the section from Richard's blog.
Basically put in my words, simultaneous contrast is the song of painting. It's about relationships. A color does not sing until it is put next to another color and it relates to it. A light yellow green might appear warm but next to a yellow orange it is now cool. That same light yellow green appears very light but when placed next to the white yellow of the sky it seems darker. (simultaneous contrast works in terms of light and dark too) In this painting look at the trees near the top right. Here, there is a play with warm and cool. I used the same value to create an opalesence/ light. Because of their relationships the colors sing.

Ode to Richard

about 6x6 pastel and watercolor on Uart paper $100.
Today I decided to go to one of my favorite haunts and test my new understanding on familiar grounds (yet different light-4:45-almost 6:00). Here is my (hopefully understandable) explanation -----Simultaneous contrast.....a color is different depending on which color is adjacent. You can really make that work when it is the same value, different temperature. Thank you Richard McKinley and Josef Albers. Little pieces of dancing colors sitting next to each other. Can you see it in this little jpeg?