Day Fifteen

Color Scheme

I am not really a color scheme kind of girl.  I don't like to be locked in to two or three colors in a room.  A little bit of everything feels more comfortable to me.

My husband and I saw a picture of a bedroom with a red door, and we have to have it.  I'll paint a little bed-side table the same color  -  WHEN I find it.  I don't love all reds, in fact I don't live with much red, so I'll know the perfect color when I see it.  Yesterday as I was leaving the flower shop after my volunteer flower arranging thing, I walked past the trash bin and there was this beautiful coral/red gerbera daisy.  Close.  Needs to be "rusted" just a touch, but not orange  .   .   .


This morning one of the members of one of the groups I teach in the summer called to plan out next year's schedule.  Fun.  It makes a Northern Michigan winter feel a lot less bleak when I'm planning summer lessons.  I know  -  live in the moment, but those moments are good planning moments.

How about thinking up some themes for winter sketching?  We'll talk about that tomorrow.
Carry your sketchbook. Open it. Sketch in it.

Another Salt Shaker

Salt Shaker at the "Sugar Bowl" Restaurant

A few posts back  Michelle asked what the five colors are in my little palette.  The palette pictured here is my seven color palette. I use a very limited palette anyway, so using only five or seven is not a big deal.  Here I have cobalt violet, quinacridone rose, ultramarine blue, hansa yellow, manganese blue, thalo yellow-green, and thalo green yellow shade.  If I were to suggest a very basic palette for sketchbook journal painting, I would say ultramarine blue, lemon yellow, quinacridone rose (or permanent rose), hookers green, and burnt sienna.

Do you find it odd that I am discussing color along with this image using one color?  I do too.

Green Paint Chips and My Favorite Chair

Green Paint Chips and a Pencil Sketch

This is a sketch of my favorite chair in the world.  It is glossy black, slender looking and sculptural.  She (don't you think it's a girl?) had been in my family before I could remember  -  so long, in fact, that no one could remember what branch of the family she had belonged to, or how old she might be.  Just a few years ago, I came across a picture of my father, about seven years old, posing for the picture on this chair - maybe about 1924.  Back in the 60s I painted it glossy black, made a pink and orange striped cushion, and glued hot pink ball fringe along the edge of the seat.  It was great.

It is COLD COLD COLD here today  -  in the low teens.  It has finally reached 65 degrees in the house and I am wearing several layers  -  and a down vest and wool scarf!  Maybe if I did something active  .  .  .

I am sitting around reading a book about painting figures, sketching the chair, and making notes about painting with, and mixing, greens.  That "fear of orange" comment a few posts back triggered something in my brain about painting greens.  Makes sense, doesn't it?

For anyone reading this who has been in one of my drawing classes, you might be glad to know that I STRUGGLED with this drawing today.

Looking for color?!

These little sketches were done as an experiment using markers and colored pencils. I read somewhere about someone using markers for the base colors and colored pencils for the shading. Bright, huh! The colors, I mean - not the idea. Well, the idea isn't bad either.

I was using the kids' Crayola markers, which are, of course, very basic, bright colors. Someday I'll get some Prismacolor markers and give it a try. Someday.

I didn't do these recently, but I was looking through my sketchbooks for COLOR - it is gray and icy and snowy here and I'm sick of it! Well - this is Michigan - tomorrow could be 70 degrees.