November 17, 2011

Yellow Cafe


Acrylic on Panel - 9 x 12 inches - sold

A little late on last week's challenge, but since I'd sketched it out loosely already, I just went ahead and painted it. Tried to stay loose, and realized while doing this that it's easier to stay loose if there aren't so many dang people in the scene. I completely ignored a lot of the ones in the shadow, but there's still too many people for my taste (or laziness).
Too keep it from getting to frantic, I decided to use a fairly limited palette, and yes, I included black. I try not to use black, but I find it almost essential when painting from someone else's photos.  

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is your issue with black paint? Take a long look at some of the most important painters of the 20th century. Not sure why you are avoiding black but it sounds like some silly rule an academic painting teacher made up.

But it seems like you did the right thing anyway and incorporated black when you wanted!

Coyote Loves You!

J.Farnsworth said...

1. it is a very silly rule MANY academics insist on torturing painters with.

2. For the discipline I'm following, black out of the tube is considered lazy and often not as rich as a dark mixed from a selection of your darkest darks on the palette. It may have originated from California plein air painters forgetting to brink their black tubes with them to the field.
I mean, really. Even the French impressionists that influenced them used black all the time. A pretty dominant them in Paris for sure.

3. I like getting the encouragement to use black!

gracias,
g

Erica Keener said...

Use black! LOL

I find that I often have the same issue with black and have to tell myself to get over it. Black=drama, at least in controlled quantities. It's funny, sometimes I have the same issue with white, but for some reason that is easier for me to ignore.

I like this painting a lot, btw. The hints of details, especially of the interior, make it much more interesting to me.