Friday, September 18, 2009

Mountain Road Studies


Mountain Road Study 1, 12 x 9
using Diazonine Purple, Thalo Green and Cadmium Orange

When I last posted, I was in Colorado Springs at the Weekend with the Masters Workshop. I am home now, and finally got some pictures taken...

I had a half-day workshop with Kevin Macpherson (not enough time with such a master but oh, so instructive). He gave us an assignment to paint the landscape using only three colors - Cadmium Orange, Diazonine Purple and Thalo Green (plus white). We were to mix these colors to find the best representative hues and values for our subjects. Removing the obvious colors from our palettes forced us to "see" the relative values and to be creative with assigning color to shapes.

We were also invited to try a second one - this time using only yellow ochre, burnt sienna and black (plus white). Same idea, remove color dependence and just see everything as value tones. It was hard and really stretching!


Mountain Road Study 2, 8 x 6

using Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna and Black

A huge highlight of the week was meeting up with blogging friend, Pam Holnback and having a fabulous grand finale dinner in her home! Isn't that the greatest? I love it when the world gets smaller. Thanks again, Pam!

10 comments:

Double "D" said...

Laurel,

I really admire your adventure through
this process of limiting color use. I think
these are great.

Dana Cooper said...

Thanks for posting these studies from your trip, Laurel, it sounds like it was very informative and fun!

Marian Fortunati said...

Very cool Laurel...

I am majorly jealous... I would love to take a class of any length with Kevin Macpherson but alas, can't afford it.

Great studies.

Nancy B. Hartley said...

Laurel,
I love those 3 colors together. Beautiful combination, and an interesting challenge. I'm envious of you and Pam, spending the weekend in Colorado! Sounds like so much fun! I was lucky to meet Pam for lunch the week before in San Francisco, it was so nice to spend time with her, and she was so excited to see you the following week! Your work is always so beautiful, including these value studies!! Thanks always for sharing!!

Sara Winters said...

These are both beautiful, but I like the second one most.

Victor Errington said...

All brilliant Laurel. Fantastic.
All the best.
Vic.

Pam Holnback said...

You're welcome, Laurel. It was MY pleasure having you over!!

Marla said...

These are great - if you hadn't explained it, I would never have noticed that you were using a limited palette.

Mary Sheehan Winn said...

Laurel,
Those crazy limited palette paintings are really great lessons. Well done.
How cool that the blogosphere brings us new friends. Pam comments on my blog.

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Laurel,

I don't know where I've been -- but I'm definitely behind on commenting. It's probably trying to juggle teaching and painting, which you do all the time. These are just superb.

Take care,

Barbara