July 6, 2009

Little Red





Acrylic on Card Stock SOLD
Finally a painting that isn't a red truck. OK, there's a lot that is technically problematic here (or just plain wrong) but was most interested in the colors on the hood of the car. I got close in places, but it really is tricky. The glare on the windshield is a little cartoonish.
Using my color isolator I could see that parts that I thought to be red were in fact orange, or tan, or purple. I just couldn't mix the right orange, tan or purple.
I suspect it makes a big difference which red you start with. I'm sticking with the limited 3-color palette for now, but may have to experiment with some other reds. (same with the blues I mentioned the other day).
Another observation – I remember Tim Horn saying that you need to be careful about the shadows when painting from photographs. They tend to push towards black, when really only the very darkest spots with no lighting at all should be that dark. So even though I started the dappled leave shadows quite dark, I went back and lightened them to a bluish-purple. Naturally they look darker here, thanks again due to photography.
In the afternoon, I walked around a bit and came across this car again, and sure enough, blue-purple shadows on the hood.

No comments: