The Blues

The Blues

I picked this subject because I thought that it was hard. I also thought that there was a great color harmony happening and I loved the idea of painting the cast shadows with the light coming from behind me.

Afternoon Shadows
Oil on Panel
8 x 6″

This was challenging, mostly for working out when to make the edges of the shadow soft and when to make them clear and sharp – and how to go about doing that exactly. This is something that I want and need to practice more.

I always loved the color of blue of my mother’s house, it is such a different color then the bright colors and earth tones of Italy. This blue has a particularly soothing tone to it and with the play of light and shadow it is a good subject to practice with.

Maybe I will paint this again, or something with a similar idea- that of dappled light or cast shadows with the strong sunlight coming from directly behind me.

This would be a great thing to paint in just black and white, to really get the values to do the work and to clarify the soft versus hard edges.

I guess I have tomorrow’s painting!