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Friday, September 18, 2009

Mountain Road Studies


Mountain Road Study 1, 12 x 9
using Diazonine Purple, Thalo Green and Cadmium Orange

When I last posted, I was in Colorado Springs at the Weekend with the Masters Workshop. I am home now, and finally got some pictures taken...

I had a half-day workshop with Kevin Macpherson (not enough time with such a master but oh, so instructive). He gave us an assignment to paint the landscape using only three colors - Cadmium Orange, Diazonine Purple and Thalo Green (plus white). We were to mix these colors to find the best representative hues and values for our subjects. Removing the obvious colors from our palettes forced us to "see" the relative values and to be creative with assigning color to shapes.

We were also invited to try a second one - this time using only yellow ochre, burnt sienna and black (plus white). Same idea, remove color dependence and just see everything as value tones. It was hard and really stretching!


Mountain Road Study 2, 8 x 6

using Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna and Black

A huge highlight of the week was meeting up with blogging friend, Pam Holnback and having a fabulous grand finale dinner in her home! Isn't that the greatest? I love it when the world gets smaller. Thanks again, Pam!

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10 comments:

  1. Double "D"September 18, 2009 at 5:45 PM

    Laurel,

    I really admire your adventure through
    this process of limiting color use. I think
    these are great.

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  2. Dana CooperSeptember 18, 2009 at 6:14 PM

    Thanks for posting these studies from your trip, Laurel, it sounds like it was very informative and fun!

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  3. Marian FortunatiSeptember 18, 2009 at 11:18 PM

    Very cool Laurel...

    I am majorly jealous... I would love to take a class of any length with Kevin Macpherson but alas, can't afford it.

    Great studies.

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  4. Nancy B. HartleySeptember 18, 2009 at 11:21 PM

    Laurel,
    I love those 3 colors together. Beautiful combination, and an interesting challenge. I'm envious of you and Pam, spending the weekend in Colorado! Sounds like so much fun! I was lucky to meet Pam for lunch the week before in San Francisco, it was so nice to spend time with her, and she was so excited to see you the following week! Your work is always so beautiful, including these value studies!! Thanks always for sharing!!

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  5. Sara WintersSeptember 19, 2009 at 12:50 AM

    These are both beautiful, but I like the second one most.

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  6. Victor ErringtonSeptember 19, 2009 at 5:52 AM

    All brilliant Laurel. Fantastic.
    All the best.
    Vic.

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  7. Pam HolnbackSeptember 19, 2009 at 5:46 PM

    You're welcome, Laurel. It was MY pleasure having you over!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. MarlaSeptember 20, 2009 at 6:47 AM

    These are great - if you hadn't explained it, I would never have noticed that you were using a limited palette.

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  9. Mary Sheehan WinnSeptember 21, 2009 at 7:39 AM

    Laurel,
    Those crazy limited palette paintings are really great lessons. Well done.
    How cool that the blogosphere brings us new friends. Pam comments on my blog.

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  10. Barbara MuirSeptember 21, 2009 at 10:33 AM

    Hi Laurel,

    I don't know where I've been -- but I'm definitely behind on commenting. It's probably trying to juggle teaching and painting, which you do all the time. These are just superb.

    Take care,

    Barbara

    ReplyDelete