8 inch X 8 inch oil on canvas panel
Today was fun! I wanted to try to something that for me was different . One of my favorite artists, Jennifer Bellinger, has written that she always pre-mixes her paints before she starts a painting. That amazes me, because I'm clueless about what colors I want before I start. I mean she pre-mixes everything! I love her work though, so I thought I'd try the best I could.
I mixed a big batch of grays and darks, and big batches of oranges and reds and corals. Lots of variations of the colors. I found that it was really helpful to be able to reach over and choose the color I wanted without having to try to mix it and then finding that what I mixed wasn't quite right. That's my usual method!
I did realize that this type of floral, with lots of layers of color, would work better if I did an underpainting first. After that dried, I could paint over the bottom layer. Today I had more blending together of colors than I wanted, which got a little muddy.
Still though, I was pretty happy with the result. I'm not putting it in the do-over pile. (At least not yet.)
