All About Color

Estelle Howard was an inspiration to me last week in Lamesa.  She painted on watercolor canvas for the first time and her painting was exceptional....this is no surprise for those who know Estelle.  She is 93 and continues to paint in oil/watercolor and anything else that comes her way.  From her photograph of an open air art exhibit, she maintained fresh colors flowing into one another. When the canvas was dry a sketch of the subject was introduced with dark lines using a script brush.  As I previously mentioned my camera remained out of sight and unfortunately I can not share her painting and the paintings of those who participated.

We all have photographs or sketches books laying around without plans....stacks of organized photos waiting for me to go through...thinking 'not sure what I want to do with this'...I tend to put those in a stack of 'maybes'.  The photograph below came to mind instantly when Estelle began painting on her canvas..

 As I drove home that day....the image of my photo was rehearsed a million times.  As the tires screeched into my drive and a quick hello to my husband, I was in the studio looking for the photo.  The painting below is all about color....green trees became festive fall yellows and reds. The buildings at the left of the photo where boring and unimportant so more tree color and shapes gave a nice backdrop to the tents.  The painting is  16x20 on Yes watercolor canvas with a warm dominance.  Colors of cool and warm mingle to make their own neutrals.  After it was dry a rigger brush loaded with a dark value is used to sketch my subject.....thoroughly enjoyed this paint time....simplified without the fuss....