Sunflowers

Color Mixing

Last week's classes painted sunflowers, paying special attention to color mixing.  We used quinacridone red, ultramarine blue, and new gamboge (yellow). For the top row of blossoms, we mixed the brown for the centers by first mixing the primaries on the palette and then dropping in a little purple after the brown center had been painted . The next one was brown mixed on the palette, and the third was mixed on the paper.  As always, we found the color mixed on the paper to be much more interesting and less muddy.  Mixing on the paper gives you less control, but the results are more pleasing. Well, that's my opinion.  The centers of the flowers in the small painting, bottom right, were done by letting the colors mix on the paper.

This week I am doing a bookbinding workshop  -  "team teaching" with my friend Cathy.  The sketchbooks were finished today in record time, and they are all absolutely beautiful!  Tomorrow we will unveil them (they are under heavy weight over night) and begin to paint. I LOVE MY JOB!